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[From the Healthier Hospitals Initiative] Today, the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) released its 2013 Milestone Report, which shows that more leading hospitals are adopting innovative sustainability practices to reduce their environmental footprint, lower costs
This factsheet explains the following:
This factsheet describes the common lessons learned from across Europe to show how PVC phase-out is possible, whatever the political and economic climate. It also lists hospitals which are phasing out PVC and the devices with which they are having most success.
Speech of Mr. Sami Frank Rifaï in the Workshop Towards a non-toxic European healthcare.
Presentation of Dr. Armin Reidel from Fresenius Kabi in the Workshop Towards Non Toxic Healthcare in March 2013.
Presentation of Lena Stigh, Project Manager of the PVCfree blood bag project in the Workshop Towards Non-toxic Healthcare (21 March 2013).
PVC plastic, also known as PVC, is widely used in medical devices. It can be harmful to patients, the environment and public health. As a result, there is a growing move away from PVC in medical devices and other products including building materials. PVC uses toxic chemicals and causes pollution during its production, use and disposal.
There are many non-PVC materials available, suitable for a wide variety of medical applications, which do not require phthalates or other softeners.
PVC is falling out of favour as a material for medical devices because of the range of environmental and health problems it poses from manufacture, through use, to disposal.
If devices made from alternative materials were generally available at equivalent cost to those made from PVC, more hospitals would be moving away from PVC.
The physical properties and low production costs of PVC have made it the material of choice for medical devices.
From an environment and health perspective however, PVC is far from ideal, posing problems throughout its life-cycle. PVC is carbon-intensive to manufacture, exposes patients to harmful substances during use and creates hazardous pollutants during disposal.
These problems are leading many hospitals to seek alternative materials for medical devices. Dozens of hospitals across Europe are phasing out PVC.
