from Forbes Magazine

Is there a toy tiger in your baby's crib? If that crib came from Wal-Mart, an environmental group says the wood it's made from could be endangering real Siberian tigers.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit group based in Washington D.C., said Wednesday that it found Chinese makers of Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people )'s wood products, including cribs, are using timber from a Russian region rife with illegal logging of protested forests.

The EIA said Wal-Mart is not pressing manufacturers to show where their wood comes from.

The group said that goes against Wal-Mart's public commitment to move toward using only wood harvested in environmentally friendly ways. The commitment is part of a broad environmental push by the world's largest retailer.

The EIA said destructive logging is a global issue but singled out Wal-Mart as the largest U.S. importer of wood products and for the power the retailer wields to pressure suppliers to go greener.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "is turning a blind eye to illegal timber sources in its supply chain which threatens some of the world's last great forests", the EIA said.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it is encouraging its suppliers to use "sustainable and ethical sources".

"Sustainable wood sourcing is important to our business and our customers," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Tara Raddohl said.

Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott launched a major environmental push two years ago to cut energy use and solid waste, sell more environmentally friendly products and motivate its roughly 60,000 suppliers to follow suit.

As part of that, an internal working group on wood and paper products produced guidelines aimed at moving suppliers to using only sustainably harvested wood by 2010 and giving preference now to those who already do so.

"It is the intention of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club to sell only wood fiber products that come from legally logged sources," the wood policy group said in a March update on its work, without providing a specific deadline.

Full Story: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/12/12/ap4432888.html