FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2009
WakeUpWalmart.com Launches “Hope for the Holidays” Campaign to Highlight Walmart’s Track Record of Poor Product Safety
(Washington, DC) – The 490,000 members of WakeUpWalmart.com today launched a consumer education campaign to highlight Walmart’s track record of stocking dangerous and unsafe products. Activists and community leaders from across the country will come together to inform consumers about Walmart’s business model and how it encourages the production of dangerous products and puts profits above the safety of consumers. Supporters of WakeUpWalmart.com and the National Consumers League will also send Walmart CEO Mike Duke an open letter asking him to put consumer safety ahead of profit this holiday season.
Walmart has repeatedly carried products that have been identified as unsafe or dangerous by reputable consumer safety organizations. Right now, there are children’s holiday gifts offered for sale at stores and online with high levels of dangerous substances including lead, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, and bromine according to HealthyStuff.org, a project of the Ecology Center and the Center for Environmental Health.
WakeUpWalmart.com and the National Consumers League are calling on Walmart to pull these dangerous products. These products include:
– Zhu Zhu Pets
– Mrs. Potato Head
– Walmart brand black and yellow frog wallet
– Disney Princesses pink belt
– iCarly pink belt
– 10 Squirtin’ Sea Buddies
– A Touch & Feel Bedtime Book
– Chux! Fling Shots
– Our Good 5 Game Combo (Badminton, Volleyball, Shuttle Smash, Flying Disc, Jelly Ball)
– The Original Little Red Wagon – Model #32
– Small Bakugan Battle Brawlers Backpack
– The Original – Butterfly Watch
– Red Flame Watch
– Green Giraffe Print Bag
“As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart should be a leader in improving safety standards for the products it carries,” said Pat O’Neill, Executive Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “Unfortunately, right now Walmart is using its size to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost which could end up compromising product safety. Saving money and living better should not mean pushing suppliers to cut costs that may result in cutting corners. Our wish list for Walmart is that they ensure their products are safe, so families don’t have to worry. Walmart can certainly afford to take extra precautions to inform customers of potential safety concerns.”
In addition to educating consumers about Walmart’s unsafe business practices and dangerous products, WakeUpWalmart.com, the National Consumers League, and their supporters will sign an open letter to Mike Duke demanding that Walmart take responsibility for the products on its shelves. In it, consumers tell Duke that, “We know Walmart can afford to do right by America’s families and help make this holiday a safe one. As the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart has an obligation to pull products with toxic levels of chemicals from its shelves—and end the unsafe practice of pushing suppliers into cutting corners.”
For more information please visit http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/holiday2009.
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UFCW News Service
www.ufcw.org
www.ufcw.org
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