Wal Mart to phase out products with hazardous chemicals

Heeding health and environmental advocates, Wal-Mart Stores announced yesterday that it would require disclosure from suppliers and the phase out of nearly 10 hazardous chemicals from the fragrances, cosmetics, household cleaners and personal care products at its stores.

According to the US' largest retailer, from January, it would start monitoring progress on reduction of these chemicals and apply the EPA (Environmental Protection Aency)'s labeling marking eco-friendly to its own cleaning products. Declining to name the targeted chemicals, it said it would take time to familiarise suppliers with the new policy.

Wal-Mart joins others like Procter & Gamble in making a shift away from potentially toxic chemicals in consumer products. Last week, citing consumer preferences, Procter & Gamble announced plans for the elimination of hormone-like phthalates and the antibacterial triclosan.

Jonhson & Johnson last year pledged to remove the two chemicals, along with formaldehyde and parabens, from its personal care products worldwide.

AP reported Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability, who was speaking about the industry efforts on a media conference call, as saying it was all kind of integrated.

She added, as it moved forward, Wal-Mart would share best practices with other members of the Sustainability Consortium, a group of companies including Procter & Gamble that aimed to cut the environmental price of global consumption.

Thomas declined to name all the chemicals that would be phased out, as the company wanted to work collaboratively with suppliers before making that public. She added, the retailer came up with the chemicals based on their environmental impact and whether there were greener alternatives. According to experts, the germ-killer, triclosan figured in the list.

The safety of triclosan, widely used in antibacterial soaps and other items was under review of the Food and Drug Administration. Some studies in animals had indicated that the chemical could increase the risk of infertility, early puberty and other hormone-related problems, though results from animal studies do not always apply to humans.

"The objective of this policy is to help ensure that household cleaning, personal care, beauty and cosmetic products sold by Wal-Mart will minimize hazards to people or the environment," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

The moves received enthusiastic support from some groups who hailed it as the first chemical policy of this scope by a global retailer.

According to Mark Rossi, co-director of Clean Production Action, a nonprofit organisation that designed tools for helping companies design cleaner, greener products, Wal-Mart's policy signaled a new era of going beyond regulatory compliance to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals.