Toxic Products Have To Go, Says This Petition

Health and environmental groups plan to petition 10 major U.S. retailers Wednesday to phase out potentially toxic products. Specifically, the appeal includes a list of 100 chemicals the groups believe should be avoided based on an array of scientific studies.

Among those leading the charge is the coalition Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

"Americans assume that chemicals used to make ordinary products are tested for safety - but they are not," states the organization's website.

This includes bottles made from biphenol-A (BPA) and carpets containing formaldehyde, among others that the organization notes have been linked to a variety of health issues, including cancer, infertility and behavioral problems.

"With each new scientific report linking toxic chemical exposure to a serious health problem," the site continues, "it becomes more obvious that the law intended to keep harmful chemicals in check - the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA) of 1976 - is not working."

As the coalition's Andy Igrejas told USA Today, "It's the Wild West" when it comes to chemical regulation. Case in point, he said, the TCSA hasn't received a major update since it passed.

Anne Steinemann is an environmental engineering professor at the University of Washington who has tested dozens of scented products only to find that fewer than 1 percent disclose all the ingredients on the label or elsewhere. What's more, she told the news outlet, some manufacturers' replacement for black-listed chemicals may actually be worse than those they substitute.

The ability for retailers to instigate serious change in product regulation has been seen time and time again.

In 2007, Target and the parent company of Sears and Kmart joined Walmart in phasing out the potentially toxic plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Four years later, Walmart announced it would discontinue use of a controversial flame retardant; a year later Kroger phased BPA out of its receipts. Lowe's and Home Depot followed suit when they voluntarily opted to stop selling driveway sealants containing coal tar, which some believe to be carcinogenic.

"The devil is in the details," Joe Schwarz of McGill University's Office for Science and Society told USA Today. A chemical's toxicity has a lot to do not only with its presence in the product, but its concentration, and that many chemicals can suddenly become toxic if found in high enough doses.

And while the petition asks that the companies phase out the listed chemicals within the next year, Steinemann explained that individuals can start now to avoid them. For cleaning, she said, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and vinegar will do the trick. 

"Use what our grandparents used - simple products."