Dollar Tree has reached a settlement with Washington state after an investigation found school supplies sold by the retailer contained illegal levels of toxic heavy metals lead and cadmium.
Dollar Tree has agreed to pay $190,000 and will more thoroughly test children’s products.
“When I buy products for my kids, I expect them to be safe from toxic metals,” said Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “Companies that sell products to children must ensure they are safe. If they don’t, they will hear from my office.”
Testing by the Washington State Department of Ecology showed numerous children’s bracelets and pencil pouches sold by Dollar Tree stores in the state contained illegal levels of lead and cadmium. The department tested the products in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
The independent testing showed the pencil pouches, in some cases, contained more than four times the state and federal limit for lead or four times the state limit for cadmium.
In response to the findings, Dollar Tree provided documentation from laboratories outside the U.S. showing that toxic metals fell within permissible levels.
Over the next five years, Dollar Tree will implement reforms and enhance its policies for testing children’s products, including:
- Use X-ray fluorescence technology to screen samples of children’s products imported from outside the U.S.
- Rotate the testing of children’s products through different third-party labs on an annual basis
- Require labs its uses to provide written procedures for how they will test for lead and cadmium
- Require a third-party expert and lab in the U.S. to audit its overseas testing of children’s products using federal environmental and consumer protection standards
“Dollar Tree is committed to selling quality products, maintaining a safe environment for associates and customers, and complying with all laws and regulations,” Dollar Tree said in an emailed statement to Supermarket News. “We have an advanced product testing program and will further enhance the product testing processes for our vendors and their products with the third-party testing laboratories. We have worked cooperatively with Washington state to resolve this matter.”
