{"id":342,"date":"2021-04-21T11:04:10","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/?p=342"},"modified":"2021-04-21T11:07:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T15:07:12","slug":"canadian-retailers-score-an-f-in-toxic-chemicals-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/2021\/04\/21\/canadian-retailers-score-an-f-in-toxic-chemicals-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Retailers Score an \u2018F\u2019 in Toxic Chemicals Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Andrew Oliphant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report card<\/a> ranking retailers on toxic chemicals gave five Canadian brands a failing grade for their lack of commitment to reducing toxic chemicals in their supply chain. The report card, Who\u2019s Minding the Store? <\/em>is in its fifth year, and grades large retailers in Canada and the United States on their progress in reducing and eliminating toxic chemicals in their products and packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 50 retailers graded, a total of 15 brands received failing grades. Metro Inc., Sobeys, Couche-Tard, Circle K and Tim Hortons were the five Canadian retailers that received an \u201cF\u201d in the report. Some of the criteria include policy, accountability and chemical footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tim Hortons scored an ‘F’ in the toxic chemicals report, ranking 40\/50 retailers. (Credit: Restaurant Brands International)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The report targets retailers who use different toxic chemicals, particularly those that use per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs).  According to the EPA<\/a>, PFAs can persist in the environment and in the human body, as they don\u2019t break down over time. These chemicals can lead to adverse health effects to humans. The report recommends that all five brands \u201cmake progress by developing a public written safer chemicals policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All five Canadian retailers were also recommended to \u201cbecome a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project<\/a>.\u201d The project looks to measure and disclose data on chemical use to reduce high-danger chemicals. The report states that increased transparency for all failing retailers would help improve grades in future report cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Metro Inc. scored last in this year’s report, gaining 0\/50 points. (Credit: Montreal Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Metro Inc. scored last out all 50 reported retailers, scoring zero out of a possible 164 points in the 13 criteria that was measured. CTVNews.ca<\/a> received a statement from Metro communications manager Stephanie Bonk, saying that the company was unaware of the report but they will \u201clook into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are more than 200,000 stores across the two countries that are owned and operated by the 50 graded retailers in the report. These retailers play a large role in sustainability and in preventing toxic pollution of communities, workers, and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report states that the report card \u201ccontinues to show that grading retailers against one another motivates them to improve chemical safety.\u201d Nearly 70 per cent of retailers that were graded in the previous report card saw improvement in their scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do to reduce toxic chemicals in your products?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though some decisions are up to retailers, there are also many simple ways that everyday Canadians can reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five easy ways to cut chemicals from your life (Credit:\nGeena Mortfield)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Andrew Oliphant A report card ranking retailers on toxic chemicals gave five Canadian brands a failing grade for their lack of commitment to reducing toxic chemicals in their supply chain. The report card, Who\u2019s Minding the Store? is in its fifth year, and grades large retailers in Canada and the United States on their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[98,43,113],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-business-2","tag-environment","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}