Healthy Homes and Retail Stores - Getting Healthier Products and Advice

Retailers have a crucial role in making a home a safe haven or source of serious health problems. They can have a positive or a negative impact depending on how they view their customer.

If the retailers are promoting dangerous products such as toy jewelry containing lead or sandpaper to remove old paint, those products can cause great damage to residents, especially children. Consumers may not make the connection between the damage and the danger, especially when the damage is hard to see like lead poisoning and the cause - invisible lead dust on a floor - hard to identify. If the retailers are selling products that help control moisture or diagnosis potential problems, they can save a child's future. It cuts both ways.

Beyond the products on the shelves, the consumer are likely to trust the advice from hardware store and paint store clerks regarding specialty items such as paint surface preparation, pest control and furnace filters. The array of products and the technical implications can be bewildering to some consumers. So they ask the clerk for advice and follow the advice given. Some chains cater to this need with slogans like "Lowes Knows" and "Ask Sherwin Williams."

So how well do retailers do? Improving Kids' Environment in Indianapolis surveyed all hardware stores in the Indianapolis area in 2004 and again in 2005. In 2004, the hardware store chains gave dangerous advice to a customer regarding surface preparation of old paint four out of five times. The worst performance was Lowes which gave dangerous advice 92% of the time. The four other chains gave dangerous advice between 73% and 80% of the time.

Even more disturbing, 43% of the clerks recommending dangerous advice held firm on the dangerous advice even when confronted with a warning label on the paint advising against use of the dangerous practice.

Similarly, 74% of clerks selling pesticides gave out advice that was both dangerous to children and ineffective at controlling pests.

Can the retailer do better? Yes. After the 2004 survey, IKE undertook an intensive effort to educate the hardware stores. In the 2005 survey, every chain improved regarding advice for surface preparation for old paint. Two chains - Home Depot and Do-It-Best - cut their rate from around 80% giving dangerous advice to 40 to 33% giving dangerous advice. Surprisingly, the best performer in 2004 improved only slightly in 2005.

Regarding pesticide advice, two chains experienced dramatic improvement. Lowes went from 100% giving dangerous advice to 2004 to 44% in 2005. Menards when from 89% in 2005 to 40%. Only one chain - Do-It Best - went the opposite direction. This chain that showed marked improvement regarding paint.

The bottom line is that the stores can do better but it takes work. The chart below tells the story graphically.

So why would stores sell dangerous products and give dangerous advice? Good question! Some chains don't know better - but the IKE's survey showed that they still performed badly after they learned of the problem. Certainly staff turnover is a problem. But IKE found many of the same clerks giving out bad advice in each year. Some chains advise clerks not to give advice but clerks are often hired because they communicate well with customers. Clearly, chains with ongoing problems have not educated the clerks and held them accountable for their actions.

Beyond the advice, chains appear to presume that if they are allowed to sell a product, then it must be safe. This reasoning is flawed. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has no pre-market authority. They cannot stop a product from being put on sale. They can only order a recall once they learn of the problem. And with 400 employees, CPSC certainly has limitation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to restrict the sale of a toxic chemicals to consumers but have refused to exercise that authority in obvious cases like lead in toy jewelry after a child has died of lead poisoning.

The most effective tool to bring about change is accountability to customers and the public.

You can go shopping. Use a survey tool to test the quality of advice and products from hardware and paint stores. Click here for a copy of the form and the instructions. The survey is built on the work by Improving Kids' Environment but goes beyond paint and cockroaches to test retailers performance regarding rat control, furnace filters and safety alarms and monitors. Based on the survey results, the project partnership will:

Most of the surveys are focused on retail paint sales. As of October 2006, Indianapolis is the only community with published results. If you are aware of other surveys or published results of these surveys or you want to begin a survey in your community, please contact Tom Neltner of the National Center for Healthy Housing at 443-539-4160 or tneltner@nchh.org.

NCHH's mission is to develop and promote practical methods to protect children from environmental health hazards in their homes while preserving affordable housing. Its primary role in this project is to serve as webhost and technical resource. It is based in Columbia, Maryland

IKE is a non-profit, advocacy coalition that facilitates tangible and significant improvements to children’s health through reductions in environmental threats to children. Its primary role in this project is to provide the survey tool, survey experience, and experience with children's environmental health issues.

Cedar Lane UU is led by the Cedar Lane Social Justice Council under the guidance of its Environment Task Force. The Social Justice Council is an elected body that provides opportunities for members and friends to translate into action their shared commitment to the ideals of justice, peace, freedom, compassion, and service to those in need. Cedar Lane UU's primary role is coordinating the Washington, DC survey and providing project guidance to ensure that the project promotes social justice.