Price Pfister May Feel Sting of Suit Filed by State : Plumbing: Firm is one of 20 facing move to block sale of faucets that leach too much lead into water.
A lawsuit seeking to prohibit faucet manufacturers from selling products that leach too much lead into water, filed by the state in December, is likely to be painful and costly for Pacoima-based Price Pfister Inc.
The California attorney general’s suit against Price, a major plumbing-supplies maker, and more than 20 other leading faucet manufacturers is intended to force the companies to stop selling the faucets or substantially reduce their lead content.
Industry observers say it could cost Price Pfister, the third-largest U.S. faucet maker, tens of millions of dollars to overhaul its 25-year-old plant and make substantial changes in its antiquated manufacturing process. “This could put the plant out of business,” said Manuel Barboso, business agent of the Teamsters local that represents Price Pfister’s 1,500 manufacturing workers in Pacoima.
One reason the lawsuit is a big headache for Price Pfister is that it was based on lab tests of 19 faucet brands, and Price Pfister’s produced the second-highest amount of lead in tap water. That’s 150 times the stringent level set by California’s Proposition 65, a 1986 law prohibiting discharge of toxic substances into drinking water.
Competitors and analysts said Price Pfister and at least one other faucet maker--Chicago Faucet Co., whose faucet produced the most lead in drinking water in the laboratory study--use an old sand-casting technique that requires twice as much lead to make a faucet as more modern methods.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit already appears to have hurt Price Pfister, which sells to the high-end residential plumbing market.
“There’s been a shift away from that product,” along with other brands showing high lead results, said Ian Price, general manager of Larry & Joe’s, a Northridge-based retailer with four plumbing supply stores. Price noted that the shift to brands with less lead represented 10% to 15% of his customers. “But in time,” he added, “I believe that concerns will grow.”
Price Pfister, with estimated annual sales of between $125 million and $150 million, contends the lawsuit hasn’t affected its business overall.
Doug Martinez, Price Pfister’s marketing director, said his company meets current federal standards for lead content in its faucets. “We feel our products are very safe and don’t cause health hazards.”
The Environmental Protection Agency requires that manufacturers use no more than 8% lead in their faucets, but there is no federal standard for the amount of lead leached into drinking water from faucets. Analysts said that is likely to change, now that California has filed suit.
“California may set the standard for the nation in faucets also,” said Julie Duncan, a scientist with the Environmental Law Foundation in Oakland, which, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council of San Francisco, has filed a separate lawsuit against the faucet companies.
Raymond Kennedy, president of the building products group at Masco Corp., the nation’s biggest faucet manufacturer, said the industry soon may set its own lead standard, probably between 4 and 7 micrograms. Based on the test results cited in the lawsuits, 16 of the 19 faucets tested would fail such guidelines.
The EPA says tap water accounts for 20% of a person’s exposure to lead. The metal is present in dishes, paint and soil and, over time, can lead to health problems, such as high blood pressure in adults and impaired development in children. Studies suggest that almost one of every five homes in the United States has a dangerous level of lead in its drinking water. Most faucets contain brass--an alloy of copper, zinc and lead. Faucets are cast by pouring molten metal into a mold, then allowing it to cool and solidify. The lead helps plug up pores in the alloy so the faucet is watertight.
In the sand-casting method used by Price Pfister, in which sand is part of the mold, the brass cools quickly and typically requires more lead. Analysts say Price Pfister’s faucets probably contain 6% to 7% lead. This compares with less than 3% lead used by manufacturers who follow two newer methods--permanent-mold casting or cutting the brass with a machine.
Martinez, of Price Pfister, acknowledged that most of his company’s faucets are made by sand casting, although he said Price Pfister also uses some permanent mold and machining techniques. “We have programs in place to reduce the lead content,” he said.
Martinez would not discuss strategy for fighting the lawsuit, but in a recent letter to its sales representatives, Price Pfister challenged the validity of the lab test.
Price Pfister’s letter said that the test results were misleading because only one kitchen faucet from each manufacturer was tested, that the tests were conducted under elaborate laboratory conditions and that new faucets, which are likely to leach more lead than faucets in use for some time, were used.
Mike Schock, an EPA chemist who has researched drinking water problems for 15 years, said of Price Pfister’s response: “They’ve got some fairly legitimate points, but they’re using it as a crutch. How many faucets do you need to test?”
* LEAD IN NEW FAUCETS Below is the average amount of lead leached from a kitchen faucet in its first six days of use, according to a laboratory survey. Each faucet maker listed, including Price Pfister in Pacoima, exceeded the 0.5 microgram a day per person lead consumption standard that was established under California’s Proposition 65. The faucet industry is now working with the Environmental Protection Agency on setting a national standard, which some analysts believe will be in the range of 4 to 7 micrograms. * Micrograms of lead per liter of drinking water Chicago Faucet: 124.8 Price Pfister: 76.9 B&K;: 43.3 Sterling: 36.8 Nutone: 33.8 True Value: 31.2 Kohler: 30.2 Woodmark: 23.7 Ace: 18.9 Elkay: 17.8 Moen: 16.0 Eljer: 14.4 Kitchen-Aid: 13.9 Univ. Rundle: 13.9 Sears: 9.5 Manville: 7.9 Delta: 4.3 American Standard: 3.4 Peerless: 2.8 Source: Environmental Quality Institute, University of North Carolina in Asheville.
