A recent Wall Street Journal article raises questions about the relationship between Wal-Mart and supposedly 'independent' testing labs. Many of these labs depend on retailers for business, and find it in their best interest to find products safe. Here's what the article has to say:

Some critics worry the thoroughness of testing can be compromised because labs are dependent on retailers and manufacturers for business. John W. de Gravelles, a Baton Rouge, La., attorney who represents consumers injured by faulty products, cites what he calls a “cozy arrangement” between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its primary testing lab, Consumer Testing Laboratories Inc. “How rigorous the testing is, I’m sure, is less determined by CTL than it is Wal-Mart,” he said.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, describes CTL on its Web site as both “independent” and “a joint effort.” Former CTL executive Ron Caviness says 85% of the lab’s business derives from Wal-Mart. The retailer has provided CTL with customer referrals, computer networking and equipment and, at one time, even office facilities, according to former CTL employees. In a 1991 Wal-Mart newsletter, CTL’s current president described the arrangement as “independent in-house testing.”

Despite a nearly 20-year relationship that has included testing clothing, furniture and food, CTL until recently didn’t have any of the laboratory accreditations that are common at large test labs. Last year, Wal-Mart stopped selling children’s toys that were found to contain lead. At that time, CTL was testing all Wal-Mart’s toys. But it was only last week that CTL was granted a Chemical Testing certificate by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation to test for lead in nonmetals and metals.

Wal-Mart recently began shifting testing of most children’s products to two large laboratories used by its retail competitors, according to a spokeswoman. “We’re not using [CTL] as we had in the past,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien. She said Wal-Mart continues to use CTL on many other products, adding that the retailer has been satisfied with CTL’s test work.