Study Reveals Many Dollar Store Products Contain Dangerous Chemicals

An eye-opening study is sparking major concerns about the safety of value store products.

In “A Day Late and a Dollar Short,” research done by The Campaign for Healthier Solutions found that many stores in the $36 billion dollar store industry sell products that contain toxic chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, and learning disabilities

In discussing the dangers posed by these chemical levels, the study first established how economically powerful dollar stores are, explaining that they “make up a significant portion of the U.S. retail sector. The four largest chains —Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and 99 Cents Only—operate a combined 21,500 U.S. stores, more than Walmart, and total annual sales of more than $36 billion.”

The study then outlined a series of health problems that can occur with exposure to dangerous chemicals, such as “learning disabilities linked to lead poisoning, and heart disease linked to arsenic exposure.”

The study reported on these dangerous chemicals – and more – being found in every day products and even children’s toys.

Some of the more shocking revelations include:

• 81% of the products tested (133 of 164) contained at least one hazardous chemical above levels of concern compared to existing voluntary toy standards and mandatory toy, packaging and electronics standards.
• 38% of the products tested (63 of 164) contained the toxic plastic PVC (vinyl).
• 32% of vinyl products tested for phthalates (12 of 38) contained levels of regulated phthalates above the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) limit for children’s products.
• At least 71% of the products tested from each dollar store chain contained one or more hazardous chemicals above levels of concern.

The Campaign for Healthier Solutions makes several suggestions on how dollar stores can improve in these areas including immediately removing children’s products that surpass safe limits from store shelves and distribution systems, and from there slowly phasing out all products that contain phthalates, lead, and PVC products from their shelves.

You can read the full report here.