Archived press release

Tackling risky chemicals on the high street

26 February 2002

Ikea, the Body Shop, Co-op, Marks & Spencer and B&Q are top of the table when it comes to tackling risky chemicals in their products, Friends of the Earth's new league table reveals today [1]. But the table, which highlights chemicals known to build up in our bodies or disrupt human hormones, shows high street stores are still not doing enough.

The chemicals [2], identified by the Danish and Swedish governments as a risk, have been linked to health threats such as increases in testicular cancer rates and the apparent earlier onset of puberty in girls. Unborn babies, babies and young children are most vulnerable to these chemicals, as their bodies are developing so fast.

The retailers scoring highest in our league table are working with their suppliers to find safer alternatives, and have either already replaced some risky chemicals or have set deadlines to get rid of them by. But most retailers are not doing enough to reduce the threats to their customers [3] [4].

Dr Michael Warhurst, Safer Chemicals Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:

“Every day unborn babies, babies and toddlers are exposed to dodgy chemicals in household products. Retailers have no excuse for selling products containing these chemicals as safer alternatives almost always exist. They are responsible to their customers for the products they sell, and should be getting rid of risky chemicals. Our league table shows that although a few retailers have started to tackle this, most are still not doing enough to reduce the risks to their customers”.

Friends of the Earth is focussing on this issue now because the European Union (EU) is reviewing its policies on chemical safety.

Dr Warhurst added:

“We want the EU to bring in tough regulations to get rid of chemicals that contaminate our bodies, and to force industry to use the safest chemicals. Sweden is already bringing in such policies, but our big worry is that the UK Government will block such strong regulation in both the UK and EU."

Notes to Editors:

Scores are worked out as a percentage of the total possible score for all the question sections that are relevant to each retailer to allow comparison. See [4] for full explanation of scoring.

* Although these retailers sell a number of brands, these scores relate largely or entirely to their own brand products.

[2] The target chemical groups are: brominated flame retardants, bisphenol A, phthalates, alkyltin, alkylphenols,artificial musks and triclosan. See [4] pg 9 for more information on the chemicals.

[3] Friends of the Earth surveyed over 50 high street retailers and manufacturers of household products. Companies were scored on whether the target chemicals are in the products they sell, if they are seeking alternatives,whether they plan to phase them out and by when and whether they would inform customers which products contain them as well as on their internal policy regarding risky chemicals. The questionnaire send out to each company is available on our website: www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/safer_chemicals/resource/retailers.html

Disclaimer: We have made every effort to score fairly based on the companies' responses, and to ensure that companies are compared to one another in as fair a way as possible. Due to the complexity of the survey and the variable quality of information received from companies, small discrepancies may exist. Note that we only surveyed larger companies; there may be smaller companies who have taken action on the target chemicals.

[4] The full report 'Survey of high street retailers and risky chemicals' is available on our website:
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/safer_chemicals/resource/retailers.html

For more information see Friends of the Earth's media briefings: 'Chemicals and health' and 'The political battle for proper regulation':
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/safer_chemicals/resource/media.html

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust