Ever since Triclosan’s ability to retard growth and lead towards carcinoma has come to light, there has been a conscious effort from various groups concerned with public health to get it banned. According to Bloomberg article dated August 13, 2014, latest in the series of efforts is credited to a consumer group named ‘Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ that is based in Washington wherein its activists are trying to convince retail stores to stop offering products which contain this chemical. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is the largest retailer company which is going to suffer under pressure of consumer groups who are trying to eliminate products with Triclosan.

Named as ‘Mind the Store’, this campaign is being spear-headed by Mike Schade and one of the prominent retails brands which is also included in the list is that of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). These retail stores are being asked to free their shelves of all those consumer goods that feature either triclosan as one of the ingredients or one of the ten chemicals that have come under the scanner as triggering ill-health.

Prominent amongst the brands is Total which is manufactured and marketed by Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) in spite of the organization’s claims that it had received clearance as an OTC product in 1997 from none other than the highest authority, namely FDA. Other companies whose products are under question are Bentonville and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) based in Arkansas and Minneapolis respectively. While the former refused to comment, the latter reiterated its commitment towards quality and safety of its products where consumers were concerned.

Mike Schade’s dedication to the cause can be adjudged from the following statement –

“New scientific studies continue to emerge on a monthly basis showing that this is a chemical that is hazardous at very low levels of exposure. We think that it’s critically important for retailers and for brands like Colgate to move swiftly in phasing out this unnecessary hazardous chemical once and for all.”

Overall, several leading names in this segment have acted on this news pertaining to triclosan. While British company Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (LSE:RB) was one of the first to act upon the news and omit it from the ingredient list in February this year, others like Avon Products Inc (NYSE:AVP) have embarked on a search for a viable substitute. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) recently started to a program which will ban triclosan in 3 years until 2016.

This article has been written by Vinita Basu and edited by Serkan Unal.