Going to a local retailer is a common experience. But last week a group of Ohio women visited Target and CVS to ask them to get serious about toxic chemicals.
Here’s what happened:
The Ohio Environmental Council and Mom’s Clean Air Force visited CVS pharmacy and Target, two of the nation’s top retailers to talk with the store managers about the importance on moving the market away from toxic chemicals.
The group of awesome women—including OEC volunteers Abby Reynolds and Patty Arehart, as well as mothers with Mom’s Clean Air Force– explained the trouble consumers have when shopping for products free of toxic chemicals.
As part of the national Mind the Store campaign, we gave the store managers the Hazardous 100+ List—a list identifying dangerous toxic chemicals linked to adverse effects in human health—and asked their stores to create an action plan to move the market away from these common toxic chemicals.
Some great news came from our Retailer Rendezvous – the CVS and Target managers were receptive to the information and agreed to pass the message along to their supervisors. Based on work we’ve done in Ohio, we know grassroots actions like this work. We’ve seen change take place in our own backyards and are committed to building this Mind the Store movement, one meeting at a time.
These meetings are the first in a series of visits the OEC and the Ohio Chapter of Mom’s Clean Air Force are planning together in an effort to raise awareness about the Mind the Store campaign and to persuade retailers to carry products free of toxic chemicals.
The next time you walk into a retailer to do your back to school shopping or pick up some more laundry detergent, will you swing by the Customer Service desk to ask them to get serious about addressing toxic chemicals in consumer products. We found out that these trips are easy and have a huge impact.
Here is a handy and easy step-by-step guide to planning your own Retailer Rendezvous. In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on what we’re hearing in Ohio.