Wal-Mart recently took a big step for consumers, for public health, and for our environment. The Bentonville-based retailer announced a policy to restrict harmful chemicals on Wal-Mart's store shelves. The policy will affect 90,000 products, including infant products, cosmetics, lotions, and household cleaners.
Wal-Mart is now a national leader on this issue--it has gone further than almost any other store in the country by pledging to be more transparent about the chemicals it uses in its products.
Wal-Mart is working to solve a big problem. Today, when a young mother walks into a Wal-Mart, she doesn't know whether the plastic baby bottles on the shelves contain toxic chemicals. A college student buying hand soap for the first time has no way to tell if the brand that he's purchasing is safe. The teacher who buys window cleaner for her classroom doesn't know whether the manufacturer is also dumping harmful chemicals into the nearby river. This policy will change that for the future: By 2022, Wal-Mart plans to give those consumers the information they need to help them decide what to buy.
We needed this leadership from a big company on this important issue. Companies are allowed to put nearly any chemical they want into personal care products, and the government does not test those chemicals for safety before we buy them. This is a problem. When we shampoo our hair or wash our hands, we're often dosing our bodies with chemicals that have been linked to hormone disruption, reproductive problems, and cancer.
As a result, we have seen formaldehyde in baby shampoo, lead in lipstick, and plastic particles in mac and cheese. These chemicals of concern have become far too common in many products. Doctors and public-health researchers warn that exposure, even in very small amounts, adds up over time.
Wal-Mart's new policy pushes the marketplace to provide safer alternatives and to be more open about what's in their products. Wal-Mart pledges to give consumers access to full ingredient lists. Right now, consumers often see a shortened version of an ingredient list that may mask the inclusion of harmful chemicals.
Further, Wal-Mart's policy includes a pledge to eliminate 10 percent of its toxic footprint by the year 2022. This could make a huge difference for the environment: We're talking about getting rid of 55 million pounds of harmful chemicals. That's 1,000 cargo containers per year of toxic chemicals--or 66 football fields filled with chemicals. This policy keeps those chemicals out of our water, out of our air, and out of our houses. The retail giant will also encourage suppliers to certify their products to credible third-party standards to make sure that manufacturers are using safe products.
We applaud Wal-Mart for taking these important steps, which definitely give consumers more choices for finding out the safety of what they're buying. However, this policy doesn't mean that Wal-Mart's products will be completely toxic-free.
Giant problems remain. Suppliers still have the option to sell products that contain harmful chemicals. So we urge the company to completely eliminate toxic chemicals from products sold in its stores. Also, Wal-Mart should mandate suppliers disclose all "secret" fragrance ingredients used in fragranced products. By law, manufacturers do not have to list fragrance ingredients on the product label. The word "fragrance" can include dozens or even hundreds of secret ingredients including carcinogens, respiratory irritants, endocrine disruptors, and neurotoxins.
Wal-Mart's decision does not go far enough, and it can do more. Even so, Wal-Mart's decision will put pressure on over 700 suppliers to be more transparent. Manufacturers have already been making changes following consumer demands for increased chemical transparency. This year, Unilever USA and Procter & Gamble announced that they will disclose fragrance ingredients in their products, and manufacturers are already saying that Wal-Mart's new policy means that they will have to review the chemicals that they are using in their supply chain.
But while Wal-Mart is a leader in this movement, it does not have to be the only store to take these steps. Now it's time for our largest retailers to do even more. Stores should require all suppliers disclose fragrance ingredients. Consumers have a right to know which chemicals are in the products they're using every day, especially those they are applying directly on their bodies.
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Dev Gowda is a public health-toxics advocate with U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) in Chicago; Zach Polett of Little Rock is national campaign director of Environment America.
Editorial on 10/20/2017