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Activists Angry At Clorox Alliance

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The Associated Press

Published: July 17, 2008

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Clorox Co., targeted by activists for emitting pollution, has a new partner: the Sierra Club.

The environmental group, better known for suing corporations than forging alliances with them, has agreed to promote a new line of eco-friendly Clorox products in exchange for a share of the profit.

"They sold their soul to the highest bidder," said Monica Evans, who helped reactivate the club's nine-county Traverse Group in 2000. She and the group's other five executive committee members resigned in May.

The walkout highlights the passionate debate among members of the Sierra Club over the partnership with Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox, named one of a "dangerous dozen" chemical companies by the Public Interest Research Group. PIRG contended in a report that Clorox's chemicals at U.S. production facilities, including one in Tampa, left 14 million people vulnerable to contamination in the case of an accidental release.

"The Sierra Club has been fighting against Clorox for decades, trying to get them to be responsible," Evans said. "Now we're partners with them? It doesn't make any sense."

The Sierra Club won't disclose how much money it will get from the sale of Clorox's "Green Works" cleansers, saying it has the same policy for all donations.

Clorox's new products consist of five cleansers. They are made from natural ingredients such as coconuts and lemon oil, contain no phosphorus or bleach, are biodegradable and are not tested on animals.

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