Can you imagine going to Wal-Mart, Kroger’s, Safeway, Home Depot, and Best Buy, as well as your favorite supermarket only to find that literally thousands of products that rely on a wide range of chemicals to perform had been removed from the shelves?
That is the objective of “Mind the Store”, a campaign by an extensive coalition of environmental and health groups, to remove commonly used products such as cleaning supplies, furniture, children’s toys, food packaging, water bottles and a very long list of others that actually provide a healthier home and work environment for Americans.
In late May, another coalition, mostly free market advocates, sent a letter to the retailers mentioned and others, expressing their concern about the “Mind the Store” campaign and urging them “to stand firm against this well-funded, anti-science campaign of fear. Families don’t need false alarmism; they need access to safe and affordable products that make their lives easier, safer, cleaner and more comfortable.
Twenty-one representatives of groups signed the letter. I am an adviser to two of them, The Heartland Institute and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), but joining them was the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the National Center for Public Policy Research, the Family Business Defense Council, National Center for Policy Analysis, and even the founder of Tea Party Nation.