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Menards has committed to ending sales of vinyl flooring that contains toxic chemicals called phthalates, following the lead of Lowe’s and Home Depot, which made similar commitments earlier this year.
All three companies have agreed to phase out those products by the end of 2015, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“We are still aware of the phthalate concerns and have been working diligently with our vendors to eliminate any flooring products that contain phthalates,” Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott told the Journal Sentinel. Menards is headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Federal investigations into products sold by Lumber Liquidators, a retail chain headquartered in Toano, Virginia, has spurred widespread scrutiny of flooring sold by other big box retailers.
The Chinese-made laminate flooring that Lumber Liquidators stopped selling this year became controversial when CBS reported the flooring contained unsafe levels of formaldehyde.
Lumber Liquidators flooring also contained phthalates, which are chemicals that make products flexible, according to The New York Times.
