ALPINE CORPORATION garden hoses, nozzles or sprinklers

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Hurt, no treatment

   Made Nov 1, 2011 · , sent to the company Nov 10, 2011 · , published by CPSC Dec 5, 2011

   The product, in the report: blue polyvinyl chloride lay flat hose (2 inch diameter) for use in low-pressure applications such as pumping water from a water garden

   The LA Water Board is forwarding a complaint we recieved. The complaint is as follows: “I’m writing this letter to express my concerns arising out of a consumer complaint lodged with a company doing business in California. The company Alpine Corporation of 4901 Zambrano St., Commerce, CA 90040, markets a product that was advertised as safe for aquatic life (?fish safe?) but was so highly toxic that in the course of less than 12 hours it killed all the fish in a 10,000 gallon pond after a short (10 min) exposure.

   My repeated attempts to deal with the company on this matter have been ignored and I must conclude that they have taken no steps to protect either the public or the environment from this toxic material. It is clear to protect the public and the environment this material should have been immediately withdrawn from the market and recalled but no such action was taken. I believe this material continues to pose a threat to the environment until it is recalled and safely and properly disposed of. As such I wish to lodge a formal complaint with your department in the hopes that you are able to conduct an investigation and determine and Alpine Corporation is not currently selling, distributing or warehousing materials that may be harmful to the environment, aquatic life and people.

   The product in question is a blue polyvinyl chloride lay flat hose (2 inch diameter) for use in low-pressure applications such as pumping water from a water garden or quite upon. I purchased the hose for use in the annual cleaning and water change of the 10,000 gallon Koi pond. Upon removing the hose from the packaging I noticed a faint plastic smell which became considerably stronger with exposure to the atmosphere. The chemical order became so strong that after 10 to 15 minutes of use I remove the hose from the pond and discontinued its use. Approximately 8 to 10 feet of the 50 foot hose was submerged in the pond for less than 15 minutes. The water in the pond at the time of the exposure was reduced to approximately 100 gallons and was diluted with approximately 10,000 gallons of additional fresh water. By the 12 hour point all of the fish in the pond had died. The pond contained 17 large mature Koi fish and several frogs that had been through several previous water changes of this type without a single loss.

   More than 12 hours after unwrapping the product the chemical smell the hose emitted was very pungent and could be smelled from over 30 feet away. Even with the hose wrapped tightly inside two Hefty garbage bags the odor emitted by the hose was strong enough to induce nausea and caused our German Shepherd to vomit repeatedly. When returned to the pond store the hose was tested by submerging them in a large tank containing healthy fish resulting in the death of all of those fish as well.

   Although I only handled the hose for a short period of time my hands became numb and tingly and remained so for the next few days these symptoms persisted for several days after exposure. In the aftermath of this event and made inquiries to determine the producer of the product and was given the name of Alpine Corporation. I then contacted [REDACTED] president of Alpine Corporation via e-mail to make you aware of my concerns with the safety of his product. After receiving no response from Alpine I followed up my e-mails with several phone calls and spoke to the manager of their customer service department. Despite these efforts Alpine’s management made no effort to return my e-mails or phone calls and continue to advertise the product on their website as being “fish safe” for several months.

   I am unaware of any efforts on the part of Alpine to either recall this dangerous product or make notifications to the appropriate consumer and environmental protection departments of the states concerned. Given the cavalier attitude with which my concerns are being treated and the fact that Alpine never sought the return of the product I believe they merely ignored the toxic nature of their product in the hopes that the problem with simply go away with the sale and distribution of the product..

   As an outcome of this complaint I am hopeful that the California Department of environmental protection will investigate this matter to ensure that Alpine Corporation has taken the steps necessary to safeguard the safety of the people of California as well as the environment. These include notifying all customers and distributors of the product of the potential danger associated with the product and the notification of the US EPA and the corresponding state agencies of all states to which the product was exported.”

   Where

   Unspecified: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   made or sold by ALPINE CORPORATION

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources