Ninety Percent of Cheap, Off-brand Faucets Tested Contain Lead and Other Toxic Chemicals
Moen, one of Fortune Brands Innovations’ leading brands and a leader in water experiences, is calling attention to concerning new findings that show cheap, off-brand, foreign-made faucets present serious health risks for consumers.
Moen commissioned independent, third-party laboratory tests of top selling cheap, off-brand, foreign-made faucets.* The tests were conducted by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (“IAPMO”) and found that 90% of faucets tested failed to meet American safe drinking water standards. Unfortunately, market data indicates up to 35 million cheap, off-brand, foreign-made faucets were imported into the United States between 2020 and 2024, potentially leaving millions of Americans exposed to high levels of lead and chemicals.
“In recent years, off-brand, foreign-made faucets have entered the American market with prices so low that we were skeptical that the products were safe for use, and we were right,” said Aaron Bores, executive vice president, product development at Fortune Brands Innovations. “The third-party testing results were more egregious than we had expected. Nearly all the tested products failed one or more American safe drinking water testing standards, and several had levels of lead and chemicals that far exceeded our American safety standards. These cheap off-brand products aren’t just pushing the limits of our safety standards – they are obliterating them, and the consumer is paying the price.”
The majority of faucets tested in the recent study were found to leach lead at high levels, far exceeding today’s American safe drinking water standards. In addition to lead, water running through a vast majority of the tested faucets was found to contain elevated levels of chemicals. Some of the results for dangerous substances showed levels 356% to 591% higher than the safety standards.
On May 14, 2025, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued nine product warnings against these off-brand, foreign-made faucets, urging consumers to immediately stop using these products due to the presence of lead.
