Advocate, Beaumont among hospitals to stop buying flame retardant furniture for safety reasons

In a move toward eliminating unnecessary health threats, four healthcare organizations announced they will stop purchasing furniture treated with flame retardant chemicals, as the chemicals are toxic, according Healthier Hospitals Initiative.

Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care, Royal Oak, Mich.-based Beaumont Health System, Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center and Cleveland-based University Hospitals will start to transition away from purchasing furniture with the toxic flame retardant chemicals that may impact the reproductive, neurocognitive and immune systems. Such chemicals also pose a threat to the environment, according to the report.

All four healthcare organizations are part of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, a nationwide campaign to improve environmental health and sustainability in healthcare.

These organizations follow the footsteps of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, who in June also committed to purchasing furniture that did not contain flame retardant chemicals.

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