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On December 11, 2018, Whole Foods Market made a dramatic announcement. Effective immediately, all prepared food and bakery packaging that tested positive for long-lived, potentially toxic chemicals were removed from its nearly 500 stores. The company said: “We’re actively working with our suppliers to find and scale new compostable packaging options.”

As we all navigate the rapid changes and uncertainty of this challenging time, the need to keep our social distance has certainly altered the way we work—but it has not changed the urgency of the work that we do to protect Americans’ health from toxic chemicals. If anything, we know it’s now more important than ever – people whose immune systems are compromised because they are suffering from cancers and other underlying illnesses that have been connected to toxic chemicals (like PFAS) are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus. But we heard loud and clear last week: the Trump administration is not letting up on its anti-regulatory agenda during the pandemic.

A new corporate responsibility trend is taking root with beauty and personal care retailers—phasing out and disclosing toxic chemicals in products and packaging.

Sometimes you hear something that stays with you all day. During a Washington Post Live panel with filmmaker and actor Mark Ruffalo, and Rob Bilott, the attorney who is the real-life hero who Ruffalo plays in his new movie Dark Waters, Clean Cape Fear founder Emily Donovan caught my attention when she said, “I would like to point out that we have an actor, a lawyer, and a Sunday school teacher sitting here today. Anybody can do this. Anybody can do this. Anybody can learn about these chemicals.”

Consumers and workers still exposed to methylene chloride from many other uses