A lot of us are doing whatever we can to stretch our shopping dollars. For many, that means patronizing dollar stores to purchase low-priced grocery staples, household items, and medicines. For a host of families, shopping dollar stores is their only option if they want to have any hope of making ends meet. That cost-cutting measure, however, can be more expensive in the long run.
According to findings of the consumer testing group Healthy Stuff, 81 percent of dollar-store products contain chemicals associated with maladies including cancer, obesity, diabetes, asthma, thyroid and kidney diseases. Using these products can have disastrous results, among them learning problems, lower IQ, birth defects and early puberty.
Think about this: The biggest offenders in the US — Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and 99 Cents Only — have more stores in the nation than Wal-Mart. (There are 10 Family Dollars alone in the Nashville area.) Collectively, their sales are more than $36 billion. Someone’s getting filthy rich, and — hey, it’s the ‘Murrican way — on the backs of those living in our poorest neighborhoods. That means low-income and working poor men, women, and children are at risk of being exposed to toxic chemicals.
Yahoo Health offers a list of the 10 most dangerous items found on dollar store shelves. For your health’s sake, take a look — and, if you can, avoid them like the proverbial plague.
Next, take action to stand for social justice and to protect the well-being of families throughout the nation. Change.org has a petition calling on dollar store CEOs to require their suppliers to disclose toxic chemicals in products, find safer alternatives, and phase out the most harmful chemicals. Add your signature.