SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
vinyl chloride
Please, Don't Buy Your Loved Ones Toxic Gifts for the Holidays
A new report reveals that most of the biggest retailers in the U.S. and Canada need to do more to protect consumer health from dangerous plastics and chemicals.
Dec 01, 2024
As the nation prepares for another holiday shopping season and we buy gifts for our loved ones, it’s more important than ever that retailers support efforts to reduce toxic chemicals and plastics in everyday products so that shoppers can choose safer products.
A new Mind the Store Retailer Report Card that scores many of the biggest retailers in the U.S. and Canada provides new insights into which retailers are leading and which are lagging in efforts to better protect consumers and communities from toxics and plastics. The report reveals that while some retailers are making progress, most of the biggest retailers in the U.S. and Canada need to do more to protect consumer health.
The newly unveiled 2024 Retailer Report Card is a comprehensive analysis of the efforts, or lack thereof, of 50 of the largest retailers to provide customers with products free of dangerous chemicals and harmful plastics. The retailers run the gamut from grocery stores to beauty supply retailers and include familiar names like McDonald’s, Best Buy, and Sally Beauty. This newest report is the sixth such analysis published since 2016. While there’s been movement in the right direction overall, this year, the average grade was a pitiful D+, and 17 of the ranked retailers failed, landing in the Toxic Hall of Shame.
The business community will never solve all of our problems, but if retailers want to keep their customers and investors happy, they will need to do more to protect our health.
Plastics are considered in the report alongside dangerous chemicals because most plastics are made with hazardous chemicals. Because 99% of plastics are made from oil and gas and contain countless chemical additives and processing aids, many are harmful to our health and are increasingly recognized as inherently toxic. Some types of plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), are especially harmful to human health.
PVC is made from vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen associated with liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, and cancers of the blood. The report findings show that companies are taking steps to reduce or eliminate the use of PVC—10 of the ranked retailers have set goals to eliminate PVC in specific products and packaging. For instance, Dollar Tree plans to eliminate it in children’s products. Yet retailers are not taking the steps necessary to ensure that replacements are safer. This gap in progress necessary to detoxify supply chains is mirrored in the tepid shift away from PVC by the corporate-led U.S. Plastics Pact group. On the one hand, the pact signatories have promised to ditch PVC by next year, but they have not supported proposed policies in states nationwide that would enshrine that goal.
It’s not only harmful plastics that major retailers fail to find safer replacements for. Dangerous chemicals like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as the forever chemicals because they are nearly impossible to destroy and don’t break down in the environment, are getting increasing scrutiny by retailers. Thirty percent of the retailers featured have set goals to eliminate PFAS in several product types, including beauty products, cookware, electronics, food packaging, pet food products, and more. However, these same companies are far behind in finding truly safer replacements. PFAS in the environment has reached crisis levels, with the substances found in the blood of nearly everyone in the U.S. and beyond. Still, petrochemical companies continue to make new versions of the chemicals even as numerous states like Washington and Maine enact new restrictions on these forever chemicals.
The top-scoring retailers in this new report show safer solutions can be found. Ten retailers, including Apple, Best Buy, IKEA, Sephora, and others, have adopted criteria for safer chemicals rooted in the definition of the state of Washington. Eight of the retailers have made investments in finding or developing safer solutions. Overall, however, the report card highlights a significant gap in ambition when all the steps required to find and use safer solutions are analyzed. Eighty percent of retailers still need to ensure safer solutions to toxic chemicals and plastics. Business is supposed to be known for its creativity, innovation, and flexibility. So why have business solutions to difficult chemical and materials problems been to throw new potentially dangerous chemicals into the market and skirt needed reductions of petrochemical plastics by focusing on recycled content pledges instead of overall reductions? This is an area where the corporate world could shine.
Customers are desperate for safer products that don’t expose our families to cancer-causing chemicals, such as flame retardants in sushi trays and spatulas. The business community will never solve all of our problems, but if retailers want to keep their customers and investors happy, they will need to do more to protect our health.
It’s time for the biggest retailers to “mind the store this holiday season.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Why Congress Must Extend Whistleblower Protections to Government Contractors
If the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act is passed, more contractors could feel empowered to stand up for what is right with crucial information.
Nov 15, 2024
With the recent presidential election, violence in the Middle East, and intense natural disasters prominent in the current news cycle, it’s understandable that major legislation is getting overlooked. However, there is one bill in particular that the public should keep its eyes on due to its potential impact on all aspects of our politics, like government accountability, immigration, and even public health: S. 1524, the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act.
Although there is existing legislation aimed at protecting government contractors, it is lackluster at best. Contractors can still face roadblocks on the way to truth-telling, such as limited jury trials, blacklisting, retaliation, and even a dearth of protections for refusing to violate the law. However, the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act increases protections for jobs funded by taxpayer dollars and closes these loopholes for federal contractors to build greater transparency in our government.
To find a case study on the importance of this legislation, one needs to look no further than the February 3, 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which sent forever chemicals and combustible materials, such as vinyl chloride (a toxic flammable gas), across the community and temporarily displaced 1,500 to 2,000 people. Three days later, authorities burned 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride and other highly toxic chemicals from five tankers, sending a dense black toxic cloud over the entire region that could be seen from space. It was recently determined that the toxic fallout of materials from the derailment and burn have been detected in 16 states.
Less than a day after the derailment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to follow procedures to fly its Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) plane for data collection of chemical levels in the area. Had it done so, the agency could have determined that the chemicals in the unexploded tanks were cooling and no longer posed a threat of explosion, making the so-called “control burn” unnecessary and its fallout avoidable. In fact, the ASPECT plane remained grounded for five days until the toxic cloud had dissipated. In the aftermath of the derailment, Dr. Robert Kroutil, an EPA contractor with Kalman & Company and a key developer in the ASPECT program, was concerned about the inordinate and unnecessary delays.
With improved and stronger whistleblower protections, Dr. Kroutil would most likely not have been forced into retirement because of the threats. He could have stood his ground while still on the job.
When he finally received data to analyze, he was shocked that the plane only collected data for seven minutes when more typical flights would collect hundreds of minutes of data. He also learned that the sensors were turned off when the plane flew over creeks, waterways, and the crash site itself. He and his fellow scientists reported that the presence of contamination was inconclusive. A few weeks later, the EPA used this report to conclude that the data collection was a success, and it was safe for residents to return to their homes when in fact the reason the results were inconclusive was because the EPA failed to collect the necessary data. Dr. Kroutil was so upset about what was happening, he filed a Freedom of Information request for documents such as back-dated flight plans. When he was threatened with termination unless he withdrew his requests, he decided to retire and go public with his revelations. He had no faith in the current, inadequate legal protections. The EPA retaliated by calling his claims “false” within minutes of hearing about them. The Office of Inspector General has determined, however, that a full investigation of his concerns is warranted, supported by many other whistleblowers.
With improved and stronger whistleblower protections, Dr. Kroutil would most likely not have been forced into retirement because of the threats. He could have stood his ground while still on the job. Unfortunately, similar events have already occurred surrounding the failure to deploy the ASPECT aircraft.
Since his disclosure of EPA’s mismanagement, two train derailments in Illinois and North Dakota have resulted in the spill of hazardous chemicals and mirror problems with the response to the derailment in East Palestine. In both incidents, the EPA failed to deploy its ASPECT chemical sensing aircraft to collect data. Instead, ASPECT at the time of the derailments was performing a nonemergency assessment near Buffalo, New York, collecting data on a legacy contamination issue from World War II.
With thousands of government contractors working tough jobs for our protection—from ensuring our food is safe to eat and defending us from foreign attacks to mitigating the impact of disasters like the derailment in East Palestine—it’s time we start protecting them too. The laws aimed at allowing contractors to speak truth to power must be modernized and repaired to make whistleblowers less vulnerable to retaliation. That is why we should pay attention to the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act of 2023, first introduced by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich) and Michael Braun (R-Ind.) and passed out of committee on a bipartisan basis, which would address the shortcomings in the current law.
Government contractors like these have a long history of saving thousands of taxpayer dollars, exposing our government’s wrongdoing, and, as in this case, saving countless lives; to be effective, laws that protect whistleblowers must encourage employees of conscience to speak up and deter employers from retaliating against them for doing so. If the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act is passed, more contractors could feel empowered to stand up for what is right with crucial information. Government Accountability Project is committed to continuing advocacy for greater whistleblower protections for government contractors and a more fair and transparent government.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Beyond Plastics Offers Next President Agenda to Protect Public Health and Environment
"When the new president takes office in January, we urge them to transition America from a leader in creating plastic pollution to a leader in combating it," said the head of the anti-plastic pollution group.
Aug 28, 2024
The group Beyond Plastics on Wednesday expressed hope that the next U.S. president "is up for the challenge" of reversing course on the annual plastic pollution that is currently projected to nearly double by 2040, and released a 27-point agenda to guide the winner of the November election.
"The next president of the United States should use a combination of approaches to significantly reduce the production, use, transport, and disposal of plastics for the sake of public health and the environment," reads the list of proposed priorities. "These include directives issued to federal agencies and efforts to work with Congress to introduce and pass relevant federal legislation."
The group released the agenda as countries including the U.S. prepare to participate in talks in November to finalize a global plastics treaty, aiming to cut down on the 15 million metric tons of plastic that end up in oceans each year and reduce human exposure to thousands of hazardous chemicals used to manufacture plastic.
The next U.S. president, said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, "has an opportunity—and a responsibility—to prioritize people and the planet over industry profits, and finally require companies to kick their toxic plastic habit."
The priorities listed by Beyond Plastics include steps that federal agencies should take to reduce plastic pollution in the U.S. and abroad, and legislation that either Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump should push Congress to pass.
Executive actions proposed by Beyond Plastics include:
- A moratorium on new permits or renewing permits for petroleum refining, petrochemical plants, and other facilities that produce plastics and their precursors;
- A national moratorium on the construction of chemical recycling facilities, which generate hazardous wastes, toxic air pollutants, and greenhouse gases, and are primarily sited in environmental justice communities;
- A ban on the shipping of plastic waste to other countries, following the shipment of 900 million pounds of plastic abroad in 2023;
- An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban on vinyl chloride, the carcinogenic chemical that created a public health hazard in East Palestine, Ohio in 2023 after a Norfolk Southern train derailed;
- Department of Justice investigations into the plastic industry's health impacts on communities near processing and manufacturing plants, its role in pollution on public lands, its "false and misleading claims about recyclability and recycled content of plastics," and plastic pollution in waterways and oceans; and
- Leadership from the Department of Labor to achieve a "just transition" for workers in the plastics industry, with employees provided with job training and placement.
The group also called on the next administration to push for the passage of "a strong national packaging reduction bill" that would require a 50% reduction in plastic packaging over 10 years; the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act; the Farewell to Foam Act, which would phase out plastic foam food containers, disposable foam picnic coolers, and packing "peanuts"; and laws enabling local governments, states, and businesses to apply for federal funding to develop waste reduction, reuse, and refill programs.
"The next president of the United States should use a combination of approaches to significantly reduce the production, use, transport, and disposal of plastics for the sake of public health and the environment."
With the average American creating 200 pounds of plastic waste per year, said Enck, the U.S. now "generates more plastic waste than any other country and is doing little to change that."
Revolving Door Project researcher Hannah Story Brown noted after Beyond Plastics published its priorities list that as the California attorney general, Harris "brought a first-of-its-kind greenwashing lawsuit against plastic bottle companies for making biodegradability claims back in 2011."
"A Harris Justice Department could and should go further in combating this toxic industry's misleading marketing," said Brown.
In contrast, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act and part of the U.S. delegation taking part in global plastics treaty talks, toldPolitico earlier this year that "in the unthinkable scenario of a second Trump presidency, we're going to get nowhere on plastics."
Mario Loyola, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an associate director of regulatory reform under Trump during his presidential term, told the outlet that the Republican nominee would likely be "skeptical" that the treaty to reduce plastic pollution "was the best agreement that could have been reached."
Enck said that "when the new president takes office in January, we urge them to transition America from a leader in creating plastic pollution to a leader in combating it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular