HealthTrust and many of its suppliers in the furniture and furnishings industry have recently partnered with Practice Greenhealth’s Healthier Hospitals Healthy Interiors 2.0 initiative. This partnership will aid member hospitals in their purchasing efforts to ensure that 30 percent of the annual volume of furnishings and furniture purchases (based on cost) eliminates the use of all:
• Flame retardants
• Formaldehyde
• Perfluorinated compounds
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
• Antimicrobials
Why Safer Furnishings?
Disease prevention has primarily been focused on lifestyle factors such as diet,
exercise, smoking and alcohol use. However, exposure to chemical contaminants such as formaldehyde, perfluorinated compounds and polyvinyl chloride can also be a preventable contributor to disease. Eliminating the use of these harmful chemicals in the healthcare setting can make hospitals safer and healthier for patients, visitors and staff.
“We applaud the many healthcare institutions that are purchasing furniture that meets the Healthier Hospitals Healthy Interiors goal,” says Rachel Gibson, Safer Chemicals program director at Health Care Without Harm. “Because the healthcare sector is such a large part of the economy, these institutions can help shift the entire marketplace toward safer products, which will benefit public health and make products safer for all consumers.”
The latest scientific research is raising health concerns about the impacts of chronic chemical exposures. According to Health Care Without Harm:
- Even very small doses of chemicals can cause disease.
- Children and developing babies are most vulnerable. See Our Stolen Future.
- Hundreds of synthetic chemicals are found in human breast milk and in the cord blood of babies in the womb. See Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns.
- Chemicals can act like drugs in our body, disrupting systems at low levels of exposure, and potentially causing harm in combination.
