Walmart Discloses Toxic Chemicals It Will Be Eliminating from Shelves
NGO Encourages Walmart to Expand List of Chemicals, Challenges Other Retailers to Follow Suit
Today Walmart revealed, for the first time, the identity of “High Priority” chemicals it has been asking suppliers to eliminate over the past three years. Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ Mind the Store campaign has been challenging big retailers like Walmart to eliminate and substitute toxic chemicals.
Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director, said, “We congratulate Walmart for finally disclosing the list of “High Priority” chemicals that it has been challenging suppliers to eliminate, which includes certain phthalates, formaldehyde and triclosan. We also congratulate Walmart and its suppliers for achieving a reduction of these chemicals by 95%.”
“This is an important milestone, but the company shouldn’t stop there. Walmart should expand its list of “High Priority” chemicals to address other dangerous chemicals that scientists and doctors have linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and brain damage. We challenge other leading retailers to join Walmart in tackling these unnecessary toxic chemicals.”
“Big retailers like Walmart have the power to transform the marketplace and bring safer products into the hands of consumers across the world. Even with recent reforms, government actions aren’t going to keep pace with the urgency of the health threats posed by toxic chemicals, so more action like this is urgently needed from leading retailers.”
For more on Walmart’s disclosures: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/wal-mart-asks-suppliers-to-remove-eight-chemicals-from-products
###
The Mind the Store Campaign is coordinated by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, which is challenging major US retailers to adopt policies to identify, restrict, and safely substitute the Hazardous 100+ chemicals in common consumer products.
