You may have seen the buzz online about our newest campaign called Mind the Store. To be honest, I’m really excited about this endeavor. If there is one thing I can really relate to, it’s the experience of walking into my favorite retailer and wondering which of the products are safe and which may contain toxic chemicals.
Every time I shop at a retailer, I always think the same thing: these retailers are just like me, due to our lax federal laws they have limited access to information on toxic chemicals sold in products on their shelves.
I don’t blame them, our current chemical system (or lack thereof) is failing both me and retailers. This is why we’re asking the nation’s top 10 retailers to work with us to move the market away from toxic chemicals.
Several of our awesome Safer Chemicals bloggers have taken to the streets to meet with local store managers of these retailers.
I encourage you all to take a moment to read some of the great women leaders who are asking the top ten retailers to Mind the Store!
Katy brings her kids to Home Depot to talk to a friendly store manager about the importance of protecting her family from toxic chemicals in building materials. (Vermont) — I was happy to have this respectful interchange with him despite the crowded store. I am hopeful that Home Depot will be a leader in providing healthy products to American families.
Shane thinks Target will do the right thing and become an early leader on moving away from toxic chemicals (Florida) — While I was making my own little difference in my backyard at my local Target, I even chatted with some customer service reps and found that they too, are concerned with the chemicals in their food, cosmetics, furniture and other consumer goods.
Lori talks to a nice Walgreens store manager about how toxics are ending up in consumer products (Massachusetts) — Most of the 10 retailers have taken some steps to move away from toxics (which is fantastic!), but don’t have an internal chemical policy. Safer Chemicals Healthy Families goal is to work with them to develop these policies.
Sommer heads to Walmart & thinks retailers can be superheroes in the market place to move us away from toxic chemicals, be sure to check out her amazing video (Michigan) — Remember, we can’t make a change overnight but if retailers begin to take action we’ll move away from the hazardous 100+ toxic chemicals, one-at-a-time. We have to start somewhere and I hope you join me in taking a friendly step in the right direction with the Mind the Store campaign.
Becki brings her two daughters to Best Buy to talk to a friendly manager about the importance of carrying safe electronics (Pennsylvania) Becki asks — Since the government isn’t minding the store, who will?
Anne heads to her local Costco to ask them to Mind the Store (Tennessee) — I explained to him that many, many other parents are becoming more informed consumers and hoping that leading retailers like Costco will help eliminate the Hazardous 100+ chemicals of high concern from the marketplace.
Molly & Laura team up to visit Safeway (Washington D.C.) — Thanks, David, for receiving our letter and hearing us out. We can’t wait to hear back from Safeway about its plans to address toxic chemicals.
Laura’s blog highlights some of the products in question (Maryland) — Retailers — who have everything to lose when customers vote with their feet — also have tremendous power over what they sell. They could be major drivers for change, if they saw it as part of their job.
Tiffany talks to her hometown grocer, Kroger (Ohio) — As a blogger I decided to join the campaign by visiting my local Kroger and speaking with the manager about the campaign and leaving with her the formal letter that can be obtained from the site.
Sarah wants retailers to address toxic chemicals and support more USA manufacturing. (Pennsylvania) — Even if you take being a conscious consumer to heart and are stringent about reading labels on the products you by, not all ingredients are listed or disclosed.
Anna, a blogger and green building guru, delivered a letter to Lowes. After building an eco-friendly house in 2005, she learned how many harmful chemicals existed in building products. Read about her experience and watch her video at Green-Talk.com.
Katy, teacher, mom & blogger writes about the importance of this new campaign (Vermont) — Due to our lax federal laws on toxic chemicals, we as consumers are burdened with carrying extensive lists to the store of which chemicals to avoid, and often times products aren’t labeled. This is too overwhelming for sleep deprived and busy parents!
Harriet talks about why the precautionary principle makes good business sense for the retailers (New Jersey) — In [other] countries the burden of proof that these chemicals may cause harm falls on the producer rather then the consumer. Yet here in the United States, land of the free and the brave, that burden of proof too often falls on all of us. You can also read about her visit to CVS and watch a short video.
