Is this hose dangerous?
July 25, 2006 12:53 PM Subscribe
Why would a soaker hose marketed for vegetable gardens have what looks like a Proposition 65 warning for cancer-causing chemicals?
Posting for a friend:
Soaker hoses are supposed to be good for the environment. But the standard soaker hose I got at Ace (looks like a black hose, made of 65% recycled rubber) had a warning on the inside package saying it contains products known to cause cancer. It even said to be sure to wash my hands after I touched it. Yikes!
Anyone know if there are alternative-material soaker hoses out there?
Posting for a friend:
Soaker hoses are supposed to be good for the environment. But the standard soaker hose I got at Ace (looks like a black hose, made of 65% recycled rubber) had a warning on the inside package saying it contains products known to cause cancer. It even said to be sure to wash my hands after I touched it. Yikes!
Anyone know if there are alternative-material soaker hoses out there?
Great answer on why the label is there. I am curious about a related question:
Why would they make a hose out of cancer-causing materials and then market it to people who will water vegetables with it?
posted by agropyron at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2006
Why would they make a hose out of cancer-causing materials and then market it to people who will water vegetables with it?
posted by agropyron at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2006
It's probably the plasticizer in the hose.
Unless you're using it as your primary potable water source (or microwaving the hose with water in it, then drinking the water), there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
posted by porpoise at 1:08 PM on July 25, 2006
Unless you're using it as your primary potable water source (or microwaving the hose with water in it, then drinking the water), there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
posted by porpoise at 1:08 PM on July 25, 2006
My experience with these warnings leads me to believe that while well-intentioned, they're quite often overly inflammatory.
Part of my job in recent years involved mailing cables to customers from time to time. These were just your standard computer VESA (VGA) cables, along with video cables. The California post office began to refuse carrying and delivering these cables. Why? Because they contained lead.
Yup, they did contain lead. Of course, it was just small amounts of lead solder, which was encased by plastic... But nonetheless, it greatly frightened some red taper in California (the only way one can possibly come into contact with the traces of lead in these cables is through burning or stripping away the plastic of the cable with a knife and licking/touching it).
If this was uniformly enforced, virtually none of the computer or consumer electronics in exisitence at the time (or now) would have been deliverable by the California Post Office.
While I wouldn't ever say that lead solder is good for you or the environment, I would definitely say that warning labels are overdone. All this needless label fearmongering results in people like me telling people like you to ignore the label because the threat isn't likely to be real. It's a hose. You've already bought it. I would use it.
posted by terpia at 1:11 PM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
Part of my job in recent years involved mailing cables to customers from time to time. These were just your standard computer VESA (VGA) cables, along with video cables. The California post office began to refuse carrying and delivering these cables. Why? Because they contained lead.
Yup, they did contain lead. Of course, it was just small amounts of lead solder, which was encased by plastic... But nonetheless, it greatly frightened some red taper in California (the only way one can possibly come into contact with the traces of lead in these cables is through burning or stripping away the plastic of the cable with a knife and licking/touching it).
If this was uniformly enforced, virtually none of the computer or consumer electronics in exisitence at the time (or now) would have been deliverable by the California Post Office.
While I wouldn't ever say that lead solder is good for you or the environment, I would definitely say that warning labels are overdone. All this needless label fearmongering results in people like me telling people like you to ignore the label because the threat isn't likely to be real. It's a hose. You've already bought it. I would use it.
posted by terpia at 1:11 PM on July 25, 2006 [1 favorite]
I just bought a Creative Zen Vision:M (an mp3 player), and it came with that silly warning as well. Personally, I'm not the slighest bit worried that my mp3 player is a silent killer, unless it distracts me to the point where I inadvertently walk into traffic...
Me thinks those crazy Californians are just uber-paranoid about pople suing them somewhere along the line. But that's just MHO.
posted by cgg at 1:18 PM on July 25, 2006
Me thinks those crazy Californians are just uber-paranoid about pople suing them somewhere along the line. But that's just MHO.
posted by cgg at 1:18 PM on July 25, 2006
It could be that carbon black is used as a colorant in the rubber. It's regulated by Prop 65 as a carcinogen, but it's generally considered safe if it's bound in a matrix like rubber or another polymer. But IANAT (I am not a toxicologist).
posted by cabingirl at 1:25 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by cabingirl at 1:25 PM on July 25, 2006
Those warnings are ridiculous. They are everywhere in california. Pretty much every business has to have one up, even if the customer is unlikely to come in contact with any cancerous agents at the business. If you avoided everything in CA that had those labels, you'd be stuck in your house starving because that's the only place that isn't labelled (you certainly couldn't get food -- the grocery store has one of those signs up!)
posted by R343L at 1:42 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by R343L at 1:42 PM on July 25, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks for the links.
I am familiar with the CYA nature of most Proposition 65 warnings. What's odd about this is the specific instruction to wash hands after touching the hose, combined with marketing this for vegetable use. But we're asking not just about the immediate food-safety of using the hose, but also wider environmental effects. Is the buildup of [whatever] in the soil over time going to be a problem? How about runoff?
I've seen regular garden hoses that are advertised as being safe for potable water - what do those use as plasticizers?
posted by expialidocious at 2:01 PM on July 25, 2006
I am familiar with the CYA nature of most Proposition 65 warnings. What's odd about this is the specific instruction to wash hands after touching the hose, combined with marketing this for vegetable use. But we're asking not just about the immediate food-safety of using the hose, but also wider environmental effects. Is the buildup of [whatever] in the soil over time going to be a problem? How about runoff?
I've seen regular garden hoses that are advertised as being safe for potable water - what do those use as plasticizers?
posted by expialidocious at 2:01 PM on July 25, 2006
Please to not ironing clotheses while wearing them.....
posted by Pressed Rat at 2:06 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by Pressed Rat at 2:06 PM on July 25, 2006
For soaker hoses to work, water has to come out of very fine holes. Almost everything which has water running through it develops a biofilm unless steps are taken to prevent it, and that biofilm would clog your soaker hose into a condition of complete uselessness in short order. So, your hose probably incorporates biocides. Since biofilms are tough customers, those biocides are probably pretty potent, and since no biocide which resides entirely within the hose can really do much to a biofilm on the surface, that biocide has to be able to leach out of the hose into the film. Which means the biocide can get on or in anything the hose comes in contact with, such as your skin, which, by the way, it can probably penetrate rather easily.
I agree the labels can be counterproductive, but mainly because their ubiquity lulls people into an unreflective false sense of security.
posted by jamjam at 2:16 PM on July 25, 2006
I agree the labels can be counterproductive, but mainly because their ubiquity lulls people into an unreflective false sense of security.
posted by jamjam at 2:16 PM on July 25, 2006
So apparently there is (possibly) a reason to worry on this one case (sorry for the scornful response!).
posted by R343L at 5:22 PM on July 25, 2006
posted by R343L at 5:22 PM on July 25, 2006
Anyone know if there are alternative-material soaker hoses out there?
Try the Garden Voices Blog Directory and You Bet Your Garden.
posted by mlis at 6:01 PM on July 25, 2006
Try the Garden Voices Blog Directory and You Bet Your Garden.
posted by mlis at 6:01 PM on July 25, 2006
It's probably a combination of the phthalate plasticisicer/softener and the carbon black pigment, as mentioned above.
I'd bet the instruction to wash hands is mostly about the carbon black. Soaker hoses become brittle with light exposure and tend to shed fine black particles, significantly including the carbon black.
PVC itself isn't a significant toxin, but it's so often associated with phthalates that many PVC products carry these sorts of warnings.
As long as the hose remains in good shape, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. It's when the plastic becomes brittle and start to crumble in a few years that it should be thrown away.
posted by bonehead at 7:45 AM on July 26, 2006
I'd bet the instruction to wash hands is mostly about the carbon black. Soaker hoses become brittle with light exposure and tend to shed fine black particles, significantly including the carbon black.
PVC itself isn't a significant toxin, but it's so often associated with phthalates that many PVC products carry these sorts of warnings.
As long as the hose remains in good shape, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. It's when the plastic becomes brittle and start to crumble in a few years that it should be thrown away.
posted by bonehead at 7:45 AM on July 26, 2006
expialidocious writes "I've seen regular garden hoses that are advertised as being safe for potable water - what do those use as plasticizers?"
The white ones are nylon or PVC, the clear are PVC (using phthalates as the plasticiser).
posted by Mitheral at 8:12 AM on July 26, 2006
The white ones are nylon or PVC, the clear are PVC (using phthalates as the plasticiser).
posted by Mitheral at 8:12 AM on July 26, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:00 PM on July 25, 2006