Este martes, un grupo de personas protestó al frente de una de las tiendas de 99 centavos para exigir que se eliminen productos que tienen, al parecer, sustancias tóxicas, pues dicen que pone en riesgo la salud de las personas, especialmente los de bajos ingresos, que acuden a estas tiendas. Según los manifestantes, algunos pesticidas y jabones con malos olores les habría provocado dolores de cabeza e incluso aseguran que hasta ciertas medicinas les causaron una reacción alérgica.

Allied members of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions, including farmworkers, environmental justice advocates, parents, and dollar store shoppers demonstrated outside 99 Cents Only Stores Headquarters and local stores across the state, urging the company to phase out chemicals of concern from its products. A delegation representing the campaign also delivered a letter requesting a meeting with 99 Cents Only Stores’ interim Chief Operations Officer Michael Simoncic and Director of Compliance Edgar Flores, to begin the work of drafting a corporate chemical management policy.

Since 2019, the Local Food Solutions project has been asking Dollar General to offer healthy, local food options in its stores, starting with four stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The South Valley of Albuquerque is the base of operations for the Agri-Cultura Network, a community-based and farmer-led cooperative that works to provide access to local and sustainably grown produce and spur local economic development. Agri-Cultura Network and its network of more than 70 farms and ranches use traditional and innovative agricultural practices to improve environmental and community stewardship and strengthen the agrarian and cultural heritage of their land and its residents. Local Food Solutions is offering a path forward for Dollar General to provide highly desirable, local food to its customers, and in doing so, reinvest in the communities where its stores operate.

Dollar General shareholders urged the discount retailer to better protect the health of workers and shoppers today at its annual shareholder meeting in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Shareholder advocates with the Campaign for Healthier Solutions (CHS) called on Dollar General to phase out chemicals of concern from its products and receipts, and voted yes on a shareholder proposal requesting an independent worker safety and well-being audit. New testing conducted by the Ecology Center Health Stuff Lab has found hormone-disrupting bisphenol S (BPS) in receipts that were printed in select stores of the major discount retailers in 2022, including Dollar General. 

Dollar General, the largest discount retail store in the United States, took an important step to improve product safety this week by signing onto the Chemical Footprint Project, a benchmarking metric that helps companies quantify the total mass of chemicals of concern in their products, and understand opportunities for safer chemicals in their supply chains.  “We commend Dollar General for taking a hard look at its chemical footprint,” said José Bravo, National Coordinator of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. “But we won’t stop organizing until the company adopts a robust chemical policy and phases out all chemicals of concern from its products.” 

Campaign for Healthier Solutions, which works to reduce lead and other toxic elements in items purchased at discount stores, has conducted studies over the years on the lead levels in things like tablecloths, jewelry and toys sold at discount stores. Its most recent study found that of 226 items tested, the level with toxic chemicals, including lead, dropped from 81% in 2015 to 53% in 2022. While the lead levels were improved, lead soldering in toys and headphones targeted towards children were found to have high levels of the toxic metal. The group wants discount stores to demand manufacturers produce products with no lead, said José Bravo, national coordinator for the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. “Lead is such an easy lift for stores or retailers to go upstream to their suppliers and say, ‘Guess what? No lead is safe lead, right,’” he said.

Major US discount store Dollar General has updated its chemicals policy, adding 11 substances to its restricted substances list (RSL) and applying this to more product brands that it owns and sells in its outlets. The company said, in an 18 May statement, that it has added the following substances to its RSL: 1-bromopropane; asbestos;1,4-dioxane; hexabromocyclodecanes (HBCD); octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4); lead and its compounds; cadmium and its compounds; bisphenol A (BPA); diethyl phthalate (DEP); dibutyl phthalate (DBP); and tetrachloroethylene (Perc).   The update follows the company’s commitment in 2019 to phase out eight ‘high priority chemicals’ from its own label cleaning and beauty products by 31 December this year, including formaldehyde, butylparaben and trichloroethylene. The company said it is "on target" to do so.  In April, US non-profits the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Ecology Center Healthy Stuff Lab said they found at least one chemical of concern in 53% of consumer products tested from five major discount retailers, including Dollar General.  

A new product screening report released today by the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Ecology Center Healthy Stuff lab found hazardous chemicals of concern in children’s products sold by the leading dollar store brands in the US. “Many families rely on dollar stores for affordable toys and other products for kids. With their high profit margins, dollar stores must do more to ensure that all of these products are safe,” said José Bravo, National Coordinator of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. Tests revealed the presence of lead, phthalates, toxic flame retardant chemicals, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) components in colorfully-labeled children’s products at Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Five Below. Lead was found in Disney and Marvel themed kids’ headphones at Five Below and Dollar Tree, a plastic baby toy at Dollar Tree, and 99 Cents Only Stores’ private-label earbuds. Ortho-phthalate plasticizers were found in children’s hair accessories and toys at Five Below. Fake teeth and lips sold at Dollar Tree and Dollar General were found to contain PVC, a dangerous plastic that can leach multiple hazardous chemicals, such as phthalates and heavy metals.