APRIL 9, 2015
Following letters and petitions from environmental groups,
Lowe’s Home Improvement said Thursday it plans to phase out products that
contain certain chemicals shown to be harmful to bees.
As part of its annual corporate responsibility report, the Mooresville-based home improvement
retailer said over the next four years, it will phase out products that contain
neonicotinoid pesticides as suitable alternatives become commercially
available.
Over the past year, more than 20 nurseries, landscaping
companies and retailers – including Lowe’s larger rival Home Depot, as well as
Whole Foods and BJ’s Wholesale Club – have taken steps to eliminate
“bee-killing pesticides” from their shelves, environmental group Friends of the
Earth said in a statement Thursday.
Lowe’s said in a statement that it would “include greater
organic and non-neonic product selections, work with growers to eliminate the
use of neonic pesticides on bee-attractive plants it sells and educate
customers and employees through in-store and online resources.”
Environmental groups have been asking Lowe’s to remove the
pesticides from their products for about two years, citing bee populations
dying at an abnormal rate. In February 2014, activists delivered half a million
petition signatures to Home Depot and Lowe’s asking the companies to stop
selling bee-killing pesticides, according to the Friends of the Earth website.
Lisa Archer, food and technology program director at Friends
of the Earth, said the group is pleased Lowe’s is “listening to consumer
concerns” and to the “growing body of science” linking pesticides to bee
deaths.
“Bees are canaries in the coalmine for our food system and
everyone, including the business community, must act fast to protect them,”
Archer said in a statement.
Lowe’s, the second biggest home improvement retailer in the
U.S., operates 1,840 stores in the U.S., Canada and
Mexico. The company said it plans to open an additional 15 to 20 home
improvement and hardware stores in 2015.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/