CVS Health

CVS has a Cosmetics Safety Policy that includes a commitment to “Developing action plans to replace ingredients of concern in our branded and private label products when safer alternatives are available and prompting similar action by our suppliers.” The company has developed a list of “chemicals of consumer concern (CCC)” and has stated “we actively identify and prioritize the replacement of CCCs with safer alternatives in certain CVS Brand categories, including beauty, baby and personal care, and food products. As new, conclusive research is published on how certain chemical ingredients are linked to health and environmental risks, and safer alternatives are made available, we apply our Cosmetic Safety Policy. This policy outlines our commitments to customer safety, scientific research, supplier collaboration and continuous improvement as well as the evaluation and replacement of CCCs in CVS Brand products. In 2015, we began the process of developing a sustainable products policy to further inform our strategy and commitments.” In addition to the CCC list, CVS also has an RSL of chemicals it has already phased out or restricted. The company’s RSL applies to their “CVS Store Brand Baby, Beauty and Personal Care Products.”

In April 2017 CVS set public quantifiable goals to reformulate nearly 600 private-label products for key chemicals of high concern from their CVS Health, Beauty 360, Essence of Beauty, and Blade product lines and stated the company, “will stop shipping store brand products that don’t meet these standards to distribution centers by the end of 2019.” The company has also noted in 2017 it plans to, “develop and launch (a) sustainable product policy.”

The company has also eliminated BPA in all private label packaging, such as for infant formula. The company has recently joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and is planning to engage its suppliers around packaging through the Beauty and Personal Care Products Sustainability Project (BPC) survey for packaging. However, the company’s chemicals policy does not explicitly apply to packaging.

The company’s Cosmetics Safety Policy does not appear to apply to other products or operations, and the company does not have a publicly available Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL).

CVS has multiple staff that work on sustainability including chemicals. Sustainability, which includes chemical management, is embedded in the Work & Development Plans of key leadership across its Store Brands and Quality Assurance teams. Specifically, the reduction of key ingredients is included in annual goal setting for these teams. Employees are evaluated on whether the goals set related to chemical management have been met, and good performance is incentivized from a performance standpoint on whether the goals set related to chemical management have been met. In its 2015 sustainability report, the company stated that: “Our goals are tied to our CSR strategic priorities, which are organized under three pillars. Each pillar has an executive sponsor who oversees progress against these priorities, while specific goals are owned and driven by senior management throughout our organization. Ultimately, our CEO and the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors have oversight of our CSR and sustainability performance.”

CVS Health regularly conducts supplier training on adhering to its chemical policy and restricted substance list through on-site training classes, webinars and printed materials. For example, in 2017 the company held a webinar series with all suppliers impacted by its commitment to eliminate parabens, phthalates, and the most prevalent formaldehyde releasers to discuss processes, timelines and answer questions around implementation. It has also added this requirement to its Store Brands Quality Assurance Agreement which is being sent out to suppliers.

The company utilizes the WERCS to specifically track chemicals on its RSL, to flag when a chemical from the list is in the formulation of a product.

In the company’s most recent sustainability report it states it has “made advancements in ingredient and labeling transparency and verification.” CVS Health stated that “In 2016, we increased the rigor of our label claim substantiation process to give consumers more confidence in product label information. We completed additional due diligence on certifications that appear on labels to ensure reliability. We also began a process of partnering with our suppliers to validate the label claims on all of our store brand products in every category—more than 4,000 products. For example, suppliers who make claims based on studies must provide us with validation of the studies’ methodology and results; this is a more robust review than required under industry standards. This label claim substantiation process is in addition to the required registration and monitoring of product ingredients through WERCSmart, our supply chain compliance tool, as well as our ongoing product testing regime.” For example, if a supplier says a product is “Free of Parabens,” that claim requires substantiation from their supplier partners.

CVS Health has otherwise not reported on programs to conduct testing to ensure supplier conformance with CVS Health’s Cosmetic Safety Policy.

CVS says it, “requires suppliers to disclose chemical-based ingredients in certain product categories and for new or reformulated products.” This disclosure is used, in part, to, “identify non-compliant products that contain restricted ingredients or are on our list of CCCs. In 2015, we invested in a new monitoring tool, which further increases our visibility into the sustainability of our supply chain by allowing us to look deeper into the ingredient profile of products.” The company has recently initiated a program to screen for restricted chemicals via the WERCs and states they are the first retailer to implement this. This allows CVS Health to screen both publically disclosed ingredients and any proprietary blends, which are not disclosed to the public but are put into WERCs.

Additionally, the company states that “All of the suppliers impacted by our restriction of parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors need to provide full transparency on ingredients. This includes requiring their suppliers to certify that these ingredients are not included in any proprietary fragrance.”

In April 2017 CVS Health announced it “took a major step forward in advancing its efforts to address chemicals of consumer concern by announcing the removal of parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors across nearly 600 beauty and personal care products from its store brand CVS Health, Beauty 360, Essence of Beauty, and Blade product lines. The Promise Organic line of store brand products also does not contain any of these ingredients. CVS Pharmacy will stop shipping store brand products that don’t meet these standards to distribution centers by the end of 2019.”

The company states its staff, “actively identify and prioritize the replacement of CCCs with safer alternatives in certain CVS Brand categories, including beauty, baby and personal care, and food products.” They state they, “use clear guidelines with supplier partners to ensure that when an ingredient is removed, it is not replaced by a regrettable substitution. We ask suppliers to leverage industry resources such as hazardous chemical lists (including the Hazardous 100+) to evaluate alternative ingredients.”

CVS also notes, “We have recently initiated a program to screen for restricted chemicals via the WERCs, we are the first retailer to implement this. This allows us to screen both publicly disclosed ingredients and any proprietary blends, which are not disclosed to the public, but are put into WERCs.”

CVS’ Cosmetics Safety Policy is publicly available, as is its Beyond Restricted Substance List (BRSL), which was posted to its website in April 2017. The list identifies the restricted chemicals by product category, which the company has pledged to update on an annual basis every May.

CVS has disclosed that its Promise Organic line of products do not contain parabens, phthalates, and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors. The company’s Beauty 360 Makeup Remover Wipes and Earth Essentials by Total Home Dish Soap also discloses ingredients of concern that have been eliminated. The company does not appear to further encourage or require the disclosure of ingredients in products sold online or on product packaging.

CVS Health became a signatory to the Chemical Footprint project in 2016, becoming the first major national pharmacy chain to do so. In the company’s most recent sustainability report it stated this signals “a commitment to chemical transparency across our supply chain.”

No discernible progress on credible third-party safer chemicals standards, though to their credit the company states in its 2015 sustainability report: “In 2015, we began the process of developing a sustainable products policy to further inform our strategy and commitments. In the future, we will work on developing standards or leveraging ones already established by credible third-party partners for specific product categories.” The company partners with the Skin Cancer Foundation to provide third-party certification for the efficacy of all of its store brand sunscreen products, though this standard does not appear to address chemicals of concern in sunscreen.

In April 2017 CVS Health partnered with the Mind the Store campaign to announce their plans to reformulate nearly 600 private label products for chemicals of high concern and also for the first time disclose their Beyond Restricted Substance List.

CVS Health announced it was reformulating nearly 600 private label products for parabens, formaldehyde-releasers and parabens, and also published its Restricted Substance List for the first time in 2017 which describes ingredients restricted by product category. The company also announced in April 2017 its intention to expand the list of chemicals and product categories the list applies to going forward: “we look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to address additional chemicals of consumer concern and focus on more product categories in the future.”

In its most recent sustainability report the company stated that “we plan to expand the number of CVS Pharmacy locations that offer Promise Organic from 1,700 to about 2,700. We also plan to launch four new Promise Organic baby skin care products in about 2,000 stores in 2017. In March 2017, we became the exclusive national drugstore chain partner for The Honest Company, which is committed to creating products that are delightful, accessible and responsible. More than 4,100 CVS Pharmacy locations will carry items including bio-based, non-chlorinated diapers; biodegradable wipes; and a shampoo made with organic botanicals. Honest Company products will also be available on a dedicated microsite at CVS.com.”

CVS is active in the BPC and the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council’s (GC3) Retailer Leadership Council (RLC). In their recent sustainability report they announced they “also worked with other retailers to talk with suppliers about replacing or eliminating chemicals of concern in products.”

No indication that company invests significant financial resources into independent research into safer alternatives to chemicals of high concern and/or green chemistry solutions