Where’s Wal-Mart? Still Selling Lead-Tainted Purses, That’s Where!
Last year, the Center for Environmental Health found high levels of lead in hundreds of handbags, purses, wallets and other accessories purchased from dozens of leading retailers. This week, we announced our legal settlement with more than forty major companies, including Target, Kmart, Macy’s, Sears, Victoria’s Secret and many others, who have agreed to eliminate these lead threats from their store brand handbags and other accessories.
Absent from the list of responsible retailers is Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer. You know: the big friendly store with the cheap prices. The one that claims to “sell products that sustain people and the environment.”
But sustainability and human health are out to lunch in the case of Wal-Mart’s purses and fashion accessories, where the company has refused to agree to the safety standards being implemented by other retailers.
In fact, while other companies have agreed to clean up, Wal-Mart continues to sell tainted purses. Just last week, the Center for Environmental Health purchased more handbags and wallets from Wal-Mart containing high levels of lead. A Miley Cyrus-brand wallet contained over 30 times more lead than the limit other companies have agreed to.
And this isn’t the only sign of Wal-Mart’s disregard for consumer health. In May, press reports revealed that Wal-Mart knew for months it was selling Miley Cyrus-brand jewelry tainted with high levels of cadmium. The company failed to take the product off store shelves until national attention forced the retail titan to take this critical step for women’s health.
When will Wal-Mart learn? And more importantly: when will they at least pretend to care?
Click here to take action and urge Wal-Mart’s CEO Mike Duke to agree to eliminate lead from his company’s handbags.