95% of triclosan and the vast majority of triclocarban are flushed down the drain where triclosan then goes on to form other toxic by-products including dioxins. In fact it was the presence of dioxins in Minnesota’s lakes that resulted in the state taking action.

This week, concerned parents and health advocates from around the U.S. are turning out at Walgreens stores and going online as part of a national Mind the Store “Week of Action” to ask the large pharmacy chain to take strong steps toward selling safer products. This follows our April 16th day of action where concerned parents and advocates across the country held events at over 60 Walgreens stores nationwide.

Last week Walmart announced a first step to address toxic chemicals in their stores, taking the lead in our Mind the Store challenge. Read some of the different responses to the announcement in our first Retailer Roundtable discussion.

On a recent call with Walmart’s Sustainability team, they told us they were taking your calls and emails seriously, and were carefully assessing the Hazardous 100⁺ list. Click here for a snapshot of Walmart’s big news.

I am a Great Lakes enthusiast; in fact my love of the lakes is one of the driving forces that led me to this work. I spend my summer vacation on Lake Superior, took frequent camping trips along the North Shore of Superior in college, and have enjoyed friend’s weddings along the banks of Lake Michigan.

There’s something about the Great Lakes that hooks us. Whether or not you live in a Great Lakes state, if you’ve experienced their beauty you know how important it is to protect them.

That’s why dozens of Great Lakes organizations have come together to ask the nation’s top ten retailers to protect these valuable resources from toxic chemical pollutants. As part of the letter to retailers, the organizations attached a new fact sheet highlighting some of the new science around toxic chemical pollutants in the Great Lakes, including the nasty “PBT” chemicals that stay in the environment, to “emerging contaminants” like Triclosan, which are rapidly rising as Great Lakes pollutants.

It’s no secret that most people don’t like ironing. It takes time, you have to schlep the ironing board across the house, and the minute you put on your pressed shirt, it seems to magically wrinkle again. But ironing is a small hassle if the trade-off means wearing a shirt that was treated with formaldehyde […]

I’ll be honest, if I’m talking to a store manager, it’s likely because I’m really upset about something minor that just happened.
Being mischarged for something, a disgruntled employee or something else that is small in the overall grand scheme of things.

But as we launched our new Mind the Store campaign, asking retailers to get tough on toxic chemicals, I’ve been presented with the opportunity to talk to store managers about something big. Something that really matters, and it feels good.

Retailers have the power to make substantial improvements in public health and safety, and with that power comes a moral obligation, a corporate social responsibility. Many of the retailers have gotten started, but they need to do more. And because they care about their customers, you can help them along.

As a college student it’s safe to say I spend a lot of time on YouTube. But it was a new experience for me to watch moms and bloggers from across the country post videos about their involvement in the Mind the Store campaign. We wanted to share some of the highlights so you could see how easy it is to ask your favorite retailers to Mind the Store.