Over 80% of the fau­cet brands for sale on Walmart violate state and federal laws and regulations, may contain hazardous materials such as metallic lead, a known neurotoxin, and harbor dangerous pathogens. They are completely illegal to sell or install in a drinking water system in the U.S. or Can­ada.

The other 20% are certified as having undergone testing to ensure they are free of pathogens, including Cryp­to­spor­i­di­um, Legion­el­la, Naeg­ler­ia fowl­eri, Vib­rio spp., and Pfies­teria, as well as harmful mineral compounds like lead, ar­sen­ic, mer­cu­ry, and cad­mi­um.

All but a few of the traffickers in illegal faucets at Walmart.com are based in China, and all but a fraction sell faucets that are made in China.

China has a very lax attitude about harmful materials such as metallic lead in water systems, and many Chinese faucet sellers are not at all above supplying dangerous faucets to its North American customers, some because they are so contaminated that they are illegal to sell in China..

Walmart claims to have a strict zero-tolerance policy against the sale of illegal goods in stores or on its website, yet the company does not appear to be taking any meaningful steps to curb trafficking in potentially dangerous, illegal faucets.

Walmart actually promotes their sale by frequently endorsing sellers of contraband faucets as "Pro Sel­lers," "Best Sel­lers," or "Spon­sored." In fact, nearly all "sponsored" faucets listed on Walmart's website are contraband faucets.

Walmart itself is the largest trafficker in banned faucets on its marketplace. It sells at least right prohibited faucet brands.

We do not suggest that all faucets sold on Walmart are contraband. Many are perfectly legal, including the usual brands, Delta, Moen, Kohler, American Standard, and some you may not have hear of: Gerber, Jaclo, Mainstays, and T&S Brass.

Yet, a search on Walmart for "faucets" produced a list that contained 83% illegal faucets, many of which we identified as "Best Sellers."

Read our complete report at Walmart's Illegal Faucets.

We are now turning to Home Depot, and the preliminary results are not at all good. Next up: Houzz. We'll let you know the result.