In 2013, Wal-Mart asked it’s suppliers to reduce certain toxic chemicals from personal care, cleaning, and beauty products and promote alternatives. The program affects about 90,000 items from 700 manufacturers.
Last week, Wal-Mart announced the chemicals on the list and reported that to date its suppliers have removed 95 percent of the chemicals on the list, by volume weight, from products sold in U.S. Was-Mart stores covered by the policy.
The eight chemicals being reduced by Wal-Mart are:
- Formaldehyde
- Triclosan
- Toluene
- Diethyl phthalate
- Nonylphenol exthoxylates
- Butylparabens
- Dibutyl phthalate
- Propylparaben
Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. said, “The retailer’s move makes sense. Customers are seeking more information about the substances in the products they buy. This is just the natural evolution of consumers today. From Wal-Mart’s standpoint, it’s kind of the way they need to be moving.”
So, see…our purchase of nontoxic products IS making a difference. The mass market is clearly moving in the direction of less toxic products.
This list of chemicals is interesting. It’s not the list I would have chosen, but it’s a step in the right direction. This list has chemicals that vary widely in toxicity. Toluene, for example, is tremendously more toxic than propylparaben.
I’m happy to see the reduction, but this doesn’t make Wal-Mart a place where all products are safe. I wish they would identify their nontoxic products with shelf-talkers to make it easy for consumers to find them.
This is progress!
BLOOM BERG: Wal-Mart Asks Its Suppliers to Stop Using Eight Chemicals
