"Wal-Mart Asks Its Suppliers to Stop Using Eight Chemicals", 20 Jul 2016

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is asking suppliers to remove formaldehyde, triclosan and six other substances from their products, part of an effort to eliminate controversial chemicals from household goods.

The chemicals on the list include “certain properties that can affect human health or the environment,” Wal-Mart said in a statement…The list was limited to eight high-priority chemicals so that Wal-Mart could make meaningful progress.

…Customers are seeking more information about the substances in the products they buy…

Investors are looking for more disclosure from companies too, said Richard Liroff, who runs the Investor Environmental Health Network…

Under the Wal-Mart policy, manufacturers must list the targeted ingredients on packaging by 2018 and work to find alternatives…

Procter & Gamble…shares many of Wal-Mart’s goals, “including product safety and transparency,” …[and] posts ingredient information online and has eliminated triclosan and diethyl phthalate from more than 99 percent of its products…