You know this is not an argument.
No information - no basis for a ban.

Once information becomes available, we rush to ban things, which by that time have done much damage.

America has lived with Polybutilene for very long.

(My background: I live in Lithuania.
That's in eastern Europe.
Was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.)

We [here in the eastern Europe] have lived with steell for several centuries.
Now the trend of "quick fix" installations is hitting us to. And the copper with plastics are coming in. All with their supposed cheapness (its actually maybe twice as expensive to install them here compared to ordinary steel pipes).

: In addition, any release of materials would be accompanied by a loss of pipe material

Yes of course.

But the relative loss of material is not as great. Yet steel is able to visibly taint the water. And if the rust was toxic, the amount would be deadly. When you think how much of it has already come your way, you might think all the pipes are almost bursting for the loss of material. Surprise... surprise... steel holds for 10, 20, 30, 40 years.

Well, poor quality welding holds less. But thread joints are more durable.

Another reason for durability: steel pipes are so thick... and the protective layer of various stuff accumulating on the inner walls is also thick. Water only seems to be pure...

: but it [led in solder and brass faucets] was still banned as a toxic substance.

The lead was reported to exceed safe concentrations, especially if the tap is not used for 5 or 8 hours. Hardly insignificant toxicity...

I attach a link to this followup.
http://www.benbest.com/health/tapwater.html
Title: "IS TAPWATER A HEALTH HAZARD?"
From there I quote: "Lead pipes were required in the city of Chicago until 1986 when federal law made them illegal".
So, the question still stands. Is there any quantitative data on the release of toxic materials by the mentioned types of pipes?

• IS TAPWATER A HEALTH HAZARD?