Mind the Store

Today I made a trip to my local Best Buy.  I didn't have anything to buy.  Instead, I feel honored to have been able to deliver a letter asking Best to create a policy banning the Hazardous 100+ chemicals from their store as part of the Mind the Store Campaign launched by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

I love that I can be a part of this campaign because I struggle every time I go to the store.  Many products and even packaging contain chemicals that can cause cancer, hormone disruption, reproductive damage, birth defects, and more.  Formaldehyde, BPA, flame retardants, parabens, and phthalates are just five of over 100 dangerous chemicals listed in the Hazardous 100+. It is overwhelming to go into a store and not know which items contain harmful chemicals.   From canned goods to furniture to beauty products, it seems like nothing is immune from containing a dangerous dose of chemicals.

The purpose of the Mind the Store campaign is to ask the top ten retailers to take a leadership role in regulating the chemicals that are in their products since the Federal Government has yet to pass legislation against the Hazardous 100+.  Large retailers changing their policies on toxics would then put pressure on the manufacturers to remove the Hazardous 100+ from their products. Since the government isn't minding the store, who will?

 Visiting my local store with a letter addressed to the CEO of the company was a simple way that I could help to improve this dangerous situation we are facing as consumers.  Watch the video I made with my daughters when I visited Best Buy today:

If you would like to do something to help, it's simple.  Just visit Mind the Store and print out a letter.  Take it with you and deliver it to the store manager on your next shopping trip.  It's simple! The manager who I spoke with today was friendly and very interested in what I had to say.  He and another associate even joked with me that they would have to switch deodorants if they were going to go chemical free.  It was the perfect opportunity for me to say that we as consumers shouldn't have to switch products because no products should be allowed to contain harmful chemicals.  That is just what the Mind the Store Campaign is all about!

Best Buy, as I told the manager I spoke with today, has an amazing recycling program, and I love that they are removing some chemicals from their brand of packaging. They are on the right track, and I have very high hopes that they will add to their official policy and eventually ban all of the Hazardous 100+  from products sold in their stores.

I do spend a great deal of time researching and only purchasing products that are safe for my family.  I especially do this for my children because a young child's developing body is more likely to have more adverse reactions to toxins.  It isn't right that some of the products on the shelves may contain chemicals that have been linked to cancer, asthma, attention deficit disorder, hormone disruption, and birth defects.  I am asking Best Buy and the other top 10 retailers to do what's right, and Mind the Store.

Read more about Mind the Store:

• USA Today Exclusive Article
• Flour Sack Mama Asks Costco to Mind the Store
• Bloggers Asking Top Retailers to Mind the Store
• Non- Toxic Kids Asks Retailers to Mind the Store
• Environmental Booty Asks Target to Mind the Store
• Climate Mama Asks Retailers to Mind the Store
• Groovy Green Livin Asks Walgreens to Mind the Store
• Green and Clean Mom Asks Walmart to Mind the Store