2005 Store Survey - Your Kid's Health: Can You Trust the Advice From Retail Stores Selling Paint and Pesticides?

Quotes from Clerks

A selection of the more disturbing quotes IKE heard from retail store clerks in 2005. See Page 12 and 16 for additional quotes.

“Some environmentally friendly folks say that lead 'might' cause some problems, but the chances are astronomically low. We are talking like 4 in 10 million. You could eat a bowl of chips and it 'might' be a problem.” That lead was absorbed by the digestive tract only, "but I don't want to down play it, because it has happened and that's why they have the warning." “Call your realtor and strong arm them, telling them you are going to call the attorney general.”

“Not very likely, but if you do have it, you're going to want to sand it all down.”

“It's something they found in plaster. After it sits for a while it gets lead in it.” “That nonsense, I mean look at me--and I do it all the time.”

"Bomb it, bomb the heck out of it.” “You can get a mask or something like that if you want, but they're scented these days, so it won't be so bad on you.”

In April 2005, Improving Kids’ Environment staff visited 85 Indianapolis area retail stores that sell paint and pesticides: 75 stores sold paint and 60 stores sold pesticides for indoor use. IKE staff posed as secret shoppers to assess how “kid friendly” the stores were based on the advice provided about lead safety and pesticide selection and the products sold. The secret shopper was a woman who asked for help killing cockroaches and fixing flaking, brittle paint on a door to her child’s bedroom in a home built in 1929.

In 2004, IKE had conducted a similar survey of the five hardware chains and surveyed paint retail stores prior to 2004. Go to www.ikecoalition.org/stores/ for the results of that survey.

· Paint specialty chains: Porter Paint (paint only) and Sherwin-Williams (paint only)

Clearly some chains have figured out that it is not good customer service to poison your customer. Other chains still have to learn that advice – continuing to rely on the ignorance of their customers to the potential hazards.

Lead-based paint continues to poison thousands of children in Indiana. The lead is likely to cause permanent brain damage that may result in lower IQ levels, more violent behavior, and learning disorders. Dust from improper surface preparation of old lead-based paint is a significant cause of the poisonings.

Children are better off if they can reduce their exposure to both pests and pesticides. Following the label instructions is essential. Even then, it is better to use the pesticide that has the lowest exposure to a child. While the specific types of damage will depend on the pesticide, the potential injuries are significant.

o Porter Paints, Home Depot and Do-It-Best had the top scores in protecting children from the hazards in lead-based paint with scores at or above 70 with 100 being the best.

o Porter Paints provided the best advice and would have scored more than 90 if its corporate parent would have allowed it to sell LeadCheck™ swabs or some other lead detection kit. All Porter Paint stores had the essential EPA “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home” pamphlet.

o Lowes, Sherwin Williams, and Menards trailed the top three with scores around 60. Like Porter Paint, Sherwin Williams would have a much better score had its stores stocked LeadCheck swabs or other lead detection kit.

o Wal-Mart and Sears had the worst scores. Sears scored only 7. Neither store provided customers with the LeadCheck swabs or the EPA Pamphlet. Sears clerks provided particularly dangerous advice and delivered it in a condescending manner.

o The retail hardware stores improved dramatically from 2004 to 2005. Their average score increased from 38 to 61. Do-It-Best went from worst to nearly best.

o Lowes was the only chain not improving overall from 2004 primarily because its improvements in some areas were offset buy a failure to maintain the EPA pamphlets in some stores.

o Six clerks went beyond the bare minimum needed to be considered acceptable in this survey and provided very good advice to the client.

o The problem is not necessarily a turn-over issue. IKE encountered many of the same clerks in 2005 that it surveyed in 2004. For many, they continued to deliver bad advice despite the negative publicity their store received.

o Despite the gains, 31% of the clerks recommended the use of dangerous surface preparation practices even though they were shown the statement on the paint can warning of the danger from those practices.

o There is a great deal of room for improvement. The top score for lead-based paint hazards was 71.

o 37 stores were violating Indiana pesticide laws by providing selection and use advice without warning signs and training. IKE will file formal complaints against the stores with the Office of Indiana State Chemist. In 2004. the Office issued eight warnings and seven fines totaling $1600 to the five retail hardware chains. IKE believes that these enforcement actions were the primary cause of the improved performance.

o Lowes had the top score of 44 primarily because it had posted warning signs at most stores and had made significant improvements in the quality of the advice it provided.

o Home Depot and Do-It-Best were third and fourth scoring just above the overall average of 25.

o Target and Wal-Mart scored 20 – solely on the quality of the advice. Wal-Mart’s low score was particularly disturbing since many of its stores are open 24 hours a day and a customer with cockroaches is likely to seek help from them in the night when the cockroaches come out.

o Sears had a score of 0. The advice was uniformly bad. No warning signs were posted. And illegal advice was the norm not the exception.