MNN - Mother Nature Network

 

Well looky here ... HealthyStuff.org, an offshoot of the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center, is an environmental nonprofit that has tested just about everything under the sun for the presence of toxic chemicals ranging from car seats to handbags. Recently, the group extended its reach into the garden shed and the results, released late last week, may find you thinking twice the next time you give Fido a sip from the garden hose on a hot summer's day. 

 

For the study, the Ecology Center tested a total of 179 run-of-the-mill gardening products — 90 garden hoses, 53 garden gloves, 23 gardening tools, and 13 kneeling pads — for lead, chlorine, bromine, cadmium, phthalates, and bisphenol A (BPA). The results found that slightly more than 70 percent of the products tested contained chemical levels of “high concern." 

 

The presence of both lead and phthalates, particularly in garden hoses, proved to be the most alarming. One hundred percent of the garden hoses tested (all made from PVC) contained phthalates, the notorious plasticizer that’s been linked to hormone disruption, genital birth defects in boys, breast cancer and other maladies. Two hoses contained the flame retardant 2,3,4,5-tetrabromo-bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (TBPH) and 30 percent of all products tested contained lead levels well over 100 parts per million, the Consumer Product Safety Commission standard for lead in children’ products. What's more, the water sampled from one hose contained 0.280 mg/l (ppm) lead while the standard for lead in drinking water is 0.015 mg/l. Not that most folks drink directly from garden hoses, but hey, it happens. High levels of BPA were also found in water samples. 

Says Jeff Gearhart, research director at the Ecology Center, in a press release issued by HealthyStuff.org: “Even if you are an organic gardener, doing everything you can to avoid pesticides and fertilizers, you still may be introducing hazardous substances into your soil by using these products. The good news is that healthier choices are out there. Polyurethane or natural rubber water hoses, and non-PVC tools and work gloves, are all better choices.”

 

Naturally, the folks from the PVC industry are on the defense. Allen Blakey, a spokesman for the Vinyl Institute tells the Los Angeles Times: “Phthalates have never been shown to be a problem in garden hoses. Garden hoses are not made specifically for drinking water. Some people do that, but they don't drink that hot water that's been roasting in the sunlight. The report lacks common sense."