The Mouse that Roared: A Small New England Town Stands Up to Toxic Dollar Stores
By Susan Eastwood, Communications Director, Clean Water Action CT
Last week, our small town of Ashford, Connecticut held a Town Meeting to decide whether to sell a parcel of land to a developer who wanted to put up a Dollar General store. This old New England form of government, which lives on in some rural towns in CT, requires that the townspeople vote at a Town Meeting to approve the sale of Town owned land. The meeting was packed, instead of the usual 10–15 who show up at these meetings, there were over 100. Townspeople have their say at a Public Hearing and then a vote is taken.
Many viewpoints were expressed, with reasons pro and con, but it struck me that many people mentioned the cheap and toxic products sold by such a retailer. This is backed up by a recent report from the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and Healthy Stuff.org. They tested 164 products from the four major dollar type retailers, Dollar General, 99 Cents Only, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar and found that 133 or 81% of those items contained at least one hazardous chemical above levels of concern. These included PVC (vinyl), phthalates and heavy metals like lead and cadmium. Just under half (49%) of the items tested had two or more hazardous toxins at concerning levels. Children’s toys were an area of particular concern. They also found that 38% of the products tested contained toxic PVC plastic and a third of those contained hormone disrupting phthalates above levels allowed by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). Phthalates are used to soften plastic, think rubber duckies, and have been linked to obesity, diabetes, reproductive disorders like infertility, birth defects, and cancer.
While major chains like Walmart and Target have responded to growing consumer demand for safer products, the Dollar Stores continue to ignore calls to implement policies that will address chemicals of concern. As the economy has stagnated, more and more people are shopping at these cheap chains and they have grown exponentially.
Let us hope that continued pressure will force them to identify, disclose and replace these toxic products with safer alternatives. In the meantime, I won’t be shopping there and neither will my neighbors!
I’m proud that my town defeated the question 82–32 and that the children of Ashford won’t be spending their allowances on cheap, toxic trash!