Greening Healthcare

Our Environmental Health Project has organized a broad coalition of activists and 35 diverse organizations to advance the connection between toxic pollution and human health. Major victories include forcing the State of Michigan to toughen its fish consumption advisories in 1998, and pressuring major Michigan retailers and manufactures to phase out the use of toxic phthalates in PVC toys. We also serve as Michigan's leading resource for grassroots community groups fighting polluting facilities, toxic waste dumps, incinerators, and contamination sites. Almost all of these struggles occur in communities of color and low-income communities, and have served as a backdrop for the national fight over the EPA Title VI Guidance on Environmental Justice.

Our Medical Waste Campaign has stopped the siting of new medical waste incinerators, and is working with several Michigan hospitals and community groups to convert existing incinerators to safer technology. We currently participate in a unique partnership with the Michigan Health and Hospitals Association, designed to promote alternative waste handling practices among the Association's member hospitals.

We also have a Healthy Food in Health Care Program that will be working with hospitals as part of a broader, national campaign through Health Care Without Harm. This program will work to expand the network of interested hospitals assessing their current food procurement practices and moving toward purchasing more sustainably-produced foods for their patients and staff. In addition to the organizing 2009 Food Med Conference in Detroit, this program will continue to provide best practices for introducing or accessing local, sustainable food, composting food waste, and promoting healthy food in neighborhoods through collaboration between hospitals and organizations.