Resources: Chemicals
Explore all of the resources we’ve curated for you below
Guide to Choosing Safer Products in Chemicals: Implementing Chemicals Policy in Healthcare
A practical guide from Health Care Without Harm to help healthcare facilities identify and eliminate harmful chemicals. Includes step-by-step strategies, checklists, and real-world examples to support safer product choices and healthier environments.
Safe Baby Products Guide: Showers & Shopping
A user-friendly guide from Getting Ready for Baby (Clean & Healthy New York) to help you spot and avoid chemicals of concern in baby products. It offers practical tips for safe purchases, building non-toxic gift registries, and includes downloadable recommendations and trusted resources for everything from feeding and bathing to travel gear and furnishings
Safer sterilants and disinfectants
According to the FDA, around 50% of medical devices in the U.S. are sterilized with Ethylene Oxide (EtO) – about 20 billion devices each year. Despite its wide usage, EPA, National Toxicology Program, and International Association of Research on Cancer all classify EtO as a carcinogen. Exposure to toxic EtO emissions can worsen respiratory conditions and cause health harms for patients and healthcare workers.
Practice Greenhealth is the leading membership organization for sustainable health care, delivering environmental solutions to hospitals and health systems across the United States. In their 2025 Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards data, 299 healthcare facilities have reportedly eliminated the use of Ethylene Oxide (EtO). Alternatives used on-site include steam sterilization (79% of facilities), low temperature hydrogen peroxide gas plasma (55%), peracetic acid (25%), ozone plasma (10%) and other alternatives (7%).
See Practice Greenhealth’s page on safer sterilants and disinfectants
Learn how Dr. Tara Marko is advancing nursing research at the intersection of climate change and maternal-child health. From groundbreaking wildfire smoke studies to sustainability leadership in academia and practice, her story highlights the growing role of nurses in shaping a healthier, more resilient future.