Archived press release

1000 Stores Back Risky Chemicals Pledge

30 May 2003

The DIY retailer Focus Wickes is the latest major retailer to sign up to Friends of the Earth's pledge [1] to phase out risky chemicals from their products, it was announced today. Focus Wickes follows in the footsteps of other DIY retailers Homebase and B&Q who signed the pledge last year.

Focus Wickes is, by turnover, the second largest DIY retailing group in the UK, having some 430 stores nationwide [2]. Focus Wickes, B&Q and Homebase are the three main DIY retailers in the UK. They own a combined number of over 1060 stores nationwide [3] and represent over 40% of the D.I.Y market nationwide [4].

This is good news for consumers and particularly concerned parents, as unborn babies, babies and toddlers are most vulnerable to the effects of risky chemicals because their bodies are still developing. Friends of the Earth is campaigning for safer chemicals in every day products because many of the chemicals currently used have not been properly tested. Studies have raised concerns about possible links to testicular cancer, the early onset of puberty in girls and behavioural disorders [5].

Karine Pellaumail of Friends of the Earth said

""We are delighted that Focus Wickes has joined other DIY retailers in signing Friends of the Earth's risky chemicals pledge. This is good news for consumers who want to buy DIY products free from health-threatening chemicals and shows that top retailers are becoming increasingly careful and responsible about the products they sell and the chemicals they contain."

Notes

[1] Friends of the Earth's Risky Chemicals pledge reads:

As a regular customer of yours, I am concerned that my family and I are being exposed to risky chemicals in the products we buy from you. We do not want to be exposed to chemicals that will contaminate our bodies or interfere with our hormone, immune or nervous systems. Will you pledge to identify and eliminate these chemicals from the products I buy?

A responsible retailer would:

• Using official lists, identify which man-made chemicals are suspected of building up in people's bodies (bioaccumulation), or interfering with the hormone, immune or nervous systems.

• Produce a strategy to identify which of its own brand and branded products, including fruit and vegetables, contain these chemicals.

• Produce a timeline to phase out these chemicals from its own-brand products, with the aim of eliminating them in 5 years, starting with those chemicals which pose the greatest threat.

• Put pressure on manufacturers of branded products to do the same.

• Report publicly on progress on an annual basis.

[2] Source: Focus website www.focusdiy.co.uk

[3] DIY Retailers - Number of Outlets in the UK in 2003

Sources: Focus website www.focusdiy.co.uk, B&Q website www.diy.com and Homebase website: www.homebase.co.uk

[4] DIY Retailers - Retail share in the UK in 1999 (%)

Source: Mintel, 1999, 'DIY Retailing', Leisure Intelligence, November.

[5] Chemicals and Health press briefing: www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/chemicals_and_health.pdf (PDF†)

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

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