Target this week laid out a new policy that pressures manufacturers of beauty supplies and household cleaners to remove harmful chemicals from their products, one of the most expansive initiatives from a major retailer to give consumers safer options for what they use on their faces and kitchen counters.
The big-box retailer has revealed details of its new Sustainable Product Standard, a program to assess the safety of more than 7,500 household cleaners and beauty, cleaning and baby-care products sold in Target’s 1,700-plus stores. Target’s crackdown on hazardous chemicals and its tough demands on the largely unregulated personal care products industry is yet another landmark in the movement for safer consumable goods, a global phenomenon driven largely by consumers and activist groups.
“Consumer demand for transparency and safer products has grown too loud for companies to ignore,” said Stacy Malkan, a co-founder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which pressured Target to sell safer beauty products.
