Walmart is the latest big-name retailer to announce it will phase out paint removal products containing methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) from its stores.
The products will be phased out of Walmart locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central American and on walmart.com by February 2019.
The announcement is a victory for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, an environmental health organization that has been pushing companies to outlaw the chemicals, which have been linked to several deaths in recent years.
Other companies that have committed to phase out the chemicals include Lowe’s, The Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams.
“We applaud Walmart for doing what’s right to safeguard its customers,” stated Mike Schade, Mind the Store campaign director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.
The organization is now calling on Ace Hardware, True Value and Menards to ban products containing the chemicals from shelves. It is also advocating that the EPA enforce a nationwide ban on the chemicals.
