TL; DNR . ; hyperbolic claims of the hose material, which is basically PVC ; releases high levels of phthalates toxic to hormonal function ; invaded by ineradicable black mold after few months of use ; unfriendly warranty, absolutely distrustful of the customers. UPDATE. By April 2023 none of the health risks have decreased, and remain a matter of concern. __ SOURCE. These OEM hoses are made by an East-Asian manufacturer with production facilities in Taiwan and China, and which has been listed in the past as a buyer of recycled plastic scrap. The hoses are sourced by the labeller Weems Industries Inc., doing business as Legacy Manufacturing Co. (Iowa), and sold under their Flexzilla brand. MATERIAL. The hose material is described as a hybrid polymer, and has three layers. The polymer components are not identified, including those of the innermost layer, which is touted to be safe for water drinking. As described below, an analysis of a Flexzilla hose by a professional laboratory found in all three layers a high concentration of multiple chemical additives used to make PVC flexible (phthalates), indicating that the hose has considerable amounts of PVC throughout its entire wall. Thus, the hybrid polymer, which Legacy no longer touts as a "premium" one, is simply a PVC compound. WATER SAFETY. In general, a non-PVC hose is much less likely to have toxic contaminants (such as heavy metals, flame retardants, or phthalates) than a hose with PVC, particularly if the PVC were recycled. I could not find verifiable evidence supporting the sales pitch that these hoses are water-drinking safe. Neither the Legacy nor the Flexzilla website display such an evidence at the time of writing this update. Despite that, when replying to a query about water potability on the Customer Q&A section, Legacy claimed "the hose meets or exceeds the standards set by the National Sanitation Foundation" (amzn.to/2LCiKT6). That foundation is a testing/certifying group whose name was changed to NSF International more than 30 years ago. At the time of this update, the NSF website does not list Flexzilla, Legacy, or Weems among the companies with NSF-certified products. Now, since Legacy's claim might have meant the hose was tested by a third party for compliance with NSF water standards, I did a further web search for an NSF/ANSI/CAN-61 test report of Flexzilla hoses over the last decade, but I did not find any. Alas, what I found was the _Garden Hose Study 2016_ of the Ecology Center (Michigan), which tested many hoses including a 50-ft 5/8" Flexzilla, whose material is listed just as PVC. Multiple phthalates were found in the three layers of the hose using an IR spectroscope (minimum detection limit of about 1% by mass). Contrary to Legacy's touts of safety, the Flexzilla hose was rated HIGH for phthalates, and received the *negative* evaluation of 'high overall level of concern' [see my figure with such test results]. This is very bad news to those planning to use a Flexzilla hose for water drinking, watering vegetables and, especially, letting children play with it. PHTHALATES. Phthalates are chemical additives used to soften the PVC's vinyl and make it flexible ("plasticizers"). They are water-soluble and not bound to the vinyl, so they can easily leach from a PVC hose into the water of those drinking from it, particularly if the hose had been heated up by the sun. Like BPA, which is also used in vinyl production, absorbed phthalates can disrupt hormonal function, affecting children (both in utero and born) and adults. A decade after the 1999 EU's phthalate ban, several phthalates were PROHIBITED in the US in 2009 (15 US Code §2057c) above 0.1% in products for children under 3 years of age and toys for children under 12, and some other phthalates were provisionally BANNED. Canada adopted similar restrictions in 2011. The reason for this prohibition is that phthalates may increase the risk of asthma in children and adults, IQ/behavioral alterations in kids, and pubertal breast changes in boys and girls. They are considered a risk of male genital defects during fetal development, and of reduced sperm counts in men. A 2018 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that chemicals in plastic such as phthalates and BPA put children’s health at risk. Any product sold in California containing any of six phthalates as well as a number of other harmful substances must display the Proposition 65 Warning : "this product contains one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm." Legacy's reaction to Q&A queries about the presence of phthalates in the hose has ranged from simply ignoring them, as for a 2014 query (amzn.to/3cbugD9), to answers bordering on fraudulence, as in a 2017 reply claiming that the Flexzilla hose is "phathalate [sic] free" (amzn.to/2D5xQjT) even though the Ecology Center study had been published the year before. Given that phthalates leaching from the hose's inner layer will mix with the water output, and those leaching from its outer layer will accumulate on its surface, it is left to one's imagination what is the exposure risk in the image Legacy shows here of a child (it used to be a toddler in a prior version of the webpage) drinking from this Flexzilla PVC hose held in his hand out in the sun. Despite Legacy's familiarity with the Prop-65 warning, it did not disclose it on its several Amazon webpages for many years. Finally, perhaps relenting to criticisms of its non-transparent practices, it put the warning in 2021 in a "Legal Disclaimer" just above the Consumer Q&A section. And it was sloppily done : in 6/2021, the warning did not appear if the 100-ft hose were selected; in 7/2022, it did not appear for the 50-ft, 75-ft, and 100-ft hoses; and in 1/2023, it once more disappeared for the 100-ft hose. All length styles of the hoses deserve the Prop-65 warning, and a number of notices of violation of the California Health & Safety Code have been filed against Weems or Legacy, or both, for presence of toxic phthalates in their products. BLACK MOLD INVASION. About 4 months after I attached the new hose to a reel (so it was kept dry off the grass or any other wet surface), it began to be invaded by black mold. This is shown in one of my attached pictures (which was taken after rubbing the hose with a dry paper towel to remove dirt); the inset shows the same hose when it was installed. Such a fungal invasion is neither an isolated nor a rare case, as evidenced by the large number of reviews here complaining about it. Handling the moldy hose left black sticky stains on my hands. A mold-invaded object is a health risk -- black mold not only can produce a toxic mycotoxin (Satratoxin-G), able to injure olfactory sensory neurons in primates, but also release millions of tiny spores that become air- and water-borne, causing lung, ocular, and skin reactions in those sensitive to them. Plasticized PVC is susceptible to fungal attack because the additives can also serve as a nitrogen or carbon source, and, at least for several plasticizers, mold can degrade and deteriorate the plastic, making it brittle and allowing the mold to penetrate it even further. Of course, mold development in the inner surface of the hose is a MAJOR water safety risk, and the hose needs to be flushed to remove the mold flecks in the standing water inside. With a melamine sponge I could remove some surface mold stains or flecks, but not others or those deeper in the hose wall. Cleaning the surface will not remove the deeper fungal growth reaching inner layers, and is merely a temporary cosmetic fix : the mold returned after I removed the hose from the spigot and kept it in the garage. This is shown in my third picture, taken some months after having removed the mold-invaded hose (the hose was hung in position for the sake of taking the picture). I contacted Legacy and spoke over the phone with a Tech Support agent
