Kaiser Permanente, the largest U.S. nonprofit health management organization, will stop buying furniture treated with flame retardants that have been linked to cancer, reproductive disorders and brain damage in children, according to an article on the Huffington Post website.
"Our mission is the health of our patients and of our communities — and that mission includes paying attention to pollutants that can cause illness," Kathy Gerwig, vice president and environmental stewardship officer at Kaiser Permanente, said in the article. "We are the first healthcare system to make this change," she added, "but we expect many more announcements to be forthcoming."
The news follows a California law enacted Jan. 1 that dissolves a decades-old state requirement that flame retardants be included in the filling of upholstered furniture.
"Hospitals and day care centers are places where there's no smoking and not a known fire hazard. We're exposing our most vulnerable young children and ill people to harmful chemicals that aren't even providing a benefit. It's just foolish," said Arlene Blum, a University of California at Berkeley chemist.
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