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.

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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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