*DEBUNKED* Toxic Levels of Lead in Black Rubber Feed Bowl Water, 30 mg/L, 2000 Times EPA Limits

[HorseGirlAbby]

I've fed/watered out of rubber bowls for years, and never had an issue. I really want to get some test strips and see for myself now.

 

[CCsGarden]

PAX

Lead is a concern, I would get different feed/water bowls if I found out they had lead.

 

[Life of Eric]

This is a good article to start learning more about this problem.
The same process used to make these rubber feed bowls is used for most rubber playground mulch. And yes, those are leaching unsafe levels of lead as well.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483242/

 

[Al Gerhart]

Granite countertops are supposed to be sealed, aren't they?


I'm following this thread, we have some of those rubber dishes and will be removing them from the pen. Can't afford to buy yet one more thing (lead test strips) atm.

Maybe once, until you clean the top, then not so much. Any sealer thick enough to provide a barrier would mark up with the slightest use.

Most, not all, granite tops are loaded with lead.

 

[Life of Eric]

The youtube video is not really passing the smell test for me. There is no EPA "alert" level for lead in water so you can't get 2000x the "EPA limit". Lead levels in water is usually measured in parts per million/billion vs. mg/L so that smells fishy too. I think the guy mentioned that the water came off a metal shed roof? Seems like click bait to me... Although I'm now curious to test the water in the rubber bowls we use.

This video is my own and I posted it to warn people, not get clicks.
I misspoke, the EPA Action Level, not Alert Level, is 15 parts per billion for lead, this can be verified with some googling. This is the equivalent of 0.015mg/L
30mg/L which is the result from my unscientific testing is 2000 times that amount.
The guy, me, did mention this water ran off a metal chicken coop roof, which has green enamel on it and is about 4 years old.
Please test your bowls, that's all I'm asking, because I don't want you or your family to ingest any lead that might be passed on to you thru chicken eggs or milk from animals using these bowls.

 

[Grannys Backyard Chicks]

Better safe than sorry... thanks for sharing

 

[Al Gerhart]

Lead is used in a lot of PVC products as a stabilizer including garden hoses and those spiffy 4" PVC tube chicken feeders or the ports used in the bucket feeders. Without a stabilizer PVC, rubbers, and a lot of other polymers just decomposes quickly. There are relatively new PVC stabilizers that are lead free but they are more expensive so lead or more accurately one of the lead oxides are used.

I like to remind people that those sci fi stories about a planet with a highly corrosive atmosphere? That is the Earth. Rubber rots due to oxidization quickly once it is made without lead stabilizers. PVC pipes and fittings wouldn't last long without lead stabilizers.

And most plastics are a witches brew of chemicals as both anti oxidants or UV stability, even some metals like aluminum and copper degrade some polymers along with acids, ozone, and even heat like that generated by sunlight.

Lead is also used to make colors in polymers and plastics more vibrant and long lasting. I knew a man that fought a never ending battle with his company's quartz countertop material suppliers to keep them from slipping in lead so as to save on pigment use.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I rarely use these bowls as they're just not my favorite thing to use. If I do use the one I have, it'd be likely to use for water, not feed. I prefer not to use mine because the birds will just step in it, and it's not large enough to last any amount of time. I have one because it is easier to break ice out of, which is something I no longer need. What you shared is very interesting, and thanks for sharing. Even if I do ever have a need to use mine again, I probably won't use it based off what you said here. I would like to see what other people come up with after testing their bowls though.

Now with that family, there is other factors I'd like to question: them drinking water from a local spring being one of them. My family tested positive for high levels of this metal (I can't remember what it was called now) and a few weeks later our local spring had a warning on it that it had that metal in the water. Another thing, back to the bowl, is there a possibility that the chickens were eating the bowl itself? Chickens will peck anything to eat, even the coop itself (if the wood is soft enough), so it wouldn't surprise me if the chickens were eating the bowl itself, just, it may have been so subtle that it wasn't caught. (Did this family do a soil test as well? Chickens will eat dirt too. How old is their house they live in? That's another factor to look at.)

 

[Life of Eric]

I rarely use these bowls as they're just not my favorite thing to use. If I do use the one I have, it'd be likely to use for water, not feed. I prefer not to use mine because the birds will just step in it, and it's not large enough to last any amount of time. I have one because it is easier to break ice out of, which is something I no longer need. What you shared is very interesting, and thanks for sharing. Even if I do ever have a need to use mine again, I probably won't use it based off what you said here. I would like to see what other people come up with after testing their bowls though.

Now with that family, there is other factors I'd like to question: them drinking water from a local spring being one of them. My family tested positive for high levels of this metal (I can't remember what it was called now) and a few weeks later our local spring had a warning on it that it had that metal in the water. Another thing, back to the bowl, is there a possibility that the chickens were eating the bowl itself? Chickens will peck anything to eat, even the coop itself (if the wood is soft enough), so it wouldn't surprise me if the chickens were eating the bowl itself, just, it may have been so subtle that it wasn't caught. (Did this family do a soil test as well? Chickens will eat dirt too. How old is their house they live in? That's another factor to look at.)

I have no information about the family who got lead poisoning.
My testing of the rubber bowl was inspired by this video:

which told the story about the family having high levels of lead in their blood.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I'm no genius here and certainly not an expert, but if your testing the well water out of a rubber bowl. Wouldn't you want to test your well water first to aquire a baseline level?

Unless I missed that...