Home Depot, Lowe's, and Other Retailers Are Pulling This From Shelves
These products have been linked to alleged human rights abuses.
Most shoppers have likely become accustomed to certain products not being available amid a myriad of supply chain issues and the ongoing pandemic. But over the last two years, many companies have also banded together to remove controversial products from their stores. Department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom banned animal fur products following decades of protests, while grocery stores like Kroger and Costco have banned the sell of Chaokoh coconut milk over allegations that the company uses cruel practices against monkeys. Now, several major U.S. retailers have started pulling certain items from stores following links to alleged human rights abuses. Read on to find out what you won't be able to buy from Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and other major retailers.
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Major retailers are pulling Lorex and Ezviz surveillance products from shelves.
Several major U.S. retailers are no longer selling surveillance technology from Chinese manufacturers Lorex and Ezviz, as reported by TechCrunch on Oct. 25. According to the news outlet, Home Depot recently stopped selling both Lorex and Ezviz products, while a Best Buy spokesperson told TechCrunch that it was "discontinuing its relationship" with both manufacturers before pulling the items from its stores. Lowe's also removed Lorex products from stores, according to the news outlet, and there are no results for Ezviz products now listed on this retailer's website.
The manufacturers' products were pulled after links to alleged human rights abuses.
According to TechCrunch, both Lorex and Ezviz have been linked to alleged human rights abuses. Lorex is controlled by Dahua Technology, while Ezviz is owned by Hikvision. Both these parent companies, which are headquartered in China, were added to a blacklist of Chinese organizations for being implicated in human rights violations against Muslim minority groups in 2019, according to the Federal Register. As a result, organizations on this list have more barriers against them when attempting to do business with American companies, but since Lorex and Ezviz are subsidiaries of the two tech firms, U.S. consumers have previously been able to buy their technology, as reported by TechCrunch.
Best Buy and Lowe's did not elaborate on decisions to remove Lorex and Ezviz products from stores. But Home Depot said in a statement to TechCrunch that the company is "committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical sourcing and we immediately stopped selling products from Lorex when this was brought to our attention," noting that it also pulled Ezviz products.
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Surveillance technology from the parent companies has allegedly been used to surveil Uyghur Muslims.
According to Tech Crunch, surveillance equipment from the two tech firms, Dahua and Hikvision, has been linked to efforts to surveil Uyghur Muslims living in Xinjiang, China. Per NPR, the United Nations says that Chinese authorities have allegedly detained more than 1.5 million Uyghurs in internment camps over the past few years. China has continuously denied this.
Some major U.S. retailers are still selling products from these two tech companies.
There are a few major U.S. retailers still advertising Lorex and Ezviz products, however. Both Walmart and Costco currently stock technology from the two companies in stores, according to TechCrunch. Walmart also has products from Lorex and Ezviz listed for sale online, while Costco still has Lorex products on its online store. Amazon has products from both companies available as well.
Lorex still lists Home Depot, Best Buy, and Lowe's as authorized national resellers on its website. Costco and Amazon are there as well, but Walmart—which had previously been listed as an authorized reseller in mid-October—is no longer on the list. On Ezviz's website, Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart are currently marked as authorized U.S. resellers, too.
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