In an article published on June 22, 2017 by regulatory news provider Chemical Watch, reporter Tammy Lovell informed that U.S. retailer Costco has started screening consumer products sold in its stores for chemicals of “regulatory and social concern.” Products under investigation include children’s and adult’s apparel, bedding, home goods, pet beds, furniture, personal care products, cleaning products, and the retailer’s own-brand Kirkland Signature food packaging, baby wipes and nappies, Lovell explained. Costco is testing the products against a list of over 300 chemicals of concern (COC), including substances falling under California’s Proposition 65, the European Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). However, so far, Costco did not disclose the list of chemicals it is testing and what thresholds it is restricting against.
In a recent evaluation of retailer’s safer chemicals programs by U.S. non-profit organization Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF), Costco ranked the second-lowest (FPF reported). Mike Schade from SCHF welcomes Costco’s chemical screening program as “an important step in the right direction.” He hopes that Costco “will join other retailers like Walmart, CVS Health and Target and disclose the list of chemicals they’re addressing,” and in addition develop “a robust safer chemicals policy with clear goals and timelines.”
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Tammy Lovell (June 22, 2017). “Costco to screen products for ‘chemicals of concern.’” Chemical Watch
