Activists install giant billboard outside CEO’s home on eve of annual shareholders meeting and World Bee Day
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On the eve of its annual shareholder meeting, Home Depot (NASDAQ: HD) is under pressure to stop selling the controversial weedkiller Roundup®. Today, consumer and environmental groups installed a video billboard outside of CEO Craig Menear's mansion featuring interviews with customers demanding the chain remove Roundup® and other products containing glyphosate from its shelves. It will also visit company headquarters and local Atlanta stores.Photos of the mobile billboard will be posted at this link
The coalition is urging investors to press the company to stop selling Roundup® as its manufacturer Bayer is being sued for billions by cancer patients claiming the weedkiller caused their illness. The main ingredient in Roundup® — glyphosate — is a probable human carcinogen and is associated with a range of other health problems.
May 20th is also World Bee Day. The EPA warns that glyphosate can harm 93% of endangered species, including bees. Glyphosate is also a primary driver of monarch butterfly declines because it destroys the milkweed plants their young depend on.
“As the largest home and garden retailer in the U.S., Home Depot can play a huge role in ending the use of this toxic weedkiller in our backyards and across the country,” said Paolo Mutia, campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “It’s reckless to sell consumers products linked to cancer and pollinator declines when safer organic alternatives exist.”
“Home Depot is putting its customers' health at risk by refusing to take Roundup off shelves,” said Lacey Kohlmoos, US Campaign Manager at SumOfUs. “We hope that hearing directly from customers and shareholders will convince Home Depot executives to finally get rid of Roundup and other glyphosate products linked to cancer.”
Today’s stunt is part of a national week of action organized by a coalition of environmental and consumer groups, including Friends of the Earth, SumOfUs, Beyond Pesticides, Center for Food Safety, Green America, Herbicide Free Campus, Toxic Free North Carolina, and Kids Right to Know. This week, hundreds of concerned consumers have taken to social media and sent emails to Home Depot executives. And individual shareholders have submitted questions about when the company will stop selling Roundup®.
Since 2020, the coalition has delivered over 157,000 petition signatures to the company and sent a letter from over 100 organizations urging Home Depot to end sales of toxic weedkillers. A recent analysis shows half of herbicides sold by Home Depot contain highly hazardous ingredients.
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Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, ensuring the food we eat and products we use are safe and sustainable, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.
SumOfUs is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, united together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy.
Kaela Bamberger
Friends of the Earth
+1 202-222-0703
kbamberger@foe.org
