Dare you drink from a garden hose? (Up Front).

We'd answer that question by saying it's OK to drink from a hose only if it's labeled safe or if you flush it first. Otherwise, the water standing inside may contain worrisome amounts of lead and other chemicals that leach from the hose itself. Many hoses are made of polyvinyl chloride, which uses lead as a stabilizer.

We tested 16 new hoses, brands sold at national chains and on the Internet. Four were labeled safe for drinking; six had warning labels. The remaining six weren't labeled either way.

The four hoses labeled safe for drinking typically contained less lead in their construction than the others. In our tests, those hoses leached minuscule amounts of lead into water that had been standing in the hose for 20 hours or more. We measured concentrations well below 15 parts per billion, the level in drinking water at which the Environmental Protection Agency requires remedial action. In fact, tap water contained as much lead as some samples. (The time the water stands in the hose, water temperature and acidity all affect the amount of lead leaching.) Hoses containing the highest amounts of lead, only two of which carried a "do not drink" label, leached 10 to 100 times allowable lead levels in the first draw of standing water.

However, ...