Target Corp. Gets With Program, Begins Reducing Toxins in Toys, Bibs, Lunchboxes, Shower Curtains, and Packaging
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 12.19.07
While red is certainly the color of the season, I do suspect that Target may have utilized the singularly worst taste ever in creating the ad above. Whoever created it certainly deserves to have a "blue Christmas" indeed...
But the good news is that Target has decided recently to get with the program and begin reducing the amount of toxic materials in some of the products it sells. Following a campaign by health and environmental advocacy groups, the nation's fifth-largest retailer said it would eliminate or reduce polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from a range of its products and packaging.
The move specifically targets infant and children's products, shower curtains, tableware and packaging. And while several lines of products found at Target including children's eating utensils, lunchboxes and coolers are already PVC-free; items like baby bibs and baby changing tables are just now slated to become PVC-free by January 2008, while the company will be phasing out phthalates from toys by the fall of 2008.
Simply put, the retailer has been under pressure not only from advocacy groups, but also from competitor’s like Wal-Mart who just recently achieved its two-year goal of eliminating PVC packaging from its house-brand line of products, as well as governmental regulations in places like the European Union and the state of California which are leading the way in getting toxins such as phthalates out of children’s products.
See also: Children Exposed Daily to Personal Care Products with Chemicals Not Proven Safe
via:: GreenBiz
I have not been in a Target in a while. Do they sell recycled paper products yet? I was always astonished how much they yammered about helping and giving back and all that and yet they seemed to have no environmental concern at all when it came to the products on the shelves.
Where can I get info on why PVC is "bad"? Is this the same PVC that's in the "white" pipes that are used in plumbing? (Although now that I think about it, I've only seen it in my drains and sprinkler system).