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09/08/2026

With most of Europe heading off on holiday, now is the perfect time to catch up on your reading and explore the Born Green Generation: Why and How.

This resource explains why reducing harmful chemical exposure during a child's first 1,000 days matter – and how we can take practical steps to create safer environments for babies and families.

From pregnancy onwards, exposure to plastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can affect health and development. Yet these chemicals remain present in many everyday products, including infant care items, food packaging, and medical supplies.

Born Green Generation: Why and How is a science-based call to action built around five principles for change:

👶 Baby-centred care – putting infants’ unique needs and vulnerabilities first.
📚 Education and learning — empowering healthcare teams with knowledge and tools.
🌿 Climate-conscious practices – reducing waste and environmental impact.
🤝 Supportive communities – bringing teams, families, and suppliers together.
✅ Real-world implementation – making change practical and sustainable.

(Re)discover the resource here 👉 https://borngreengeneration.org/born-green-generation-why-and-how/

09/08/2026

PVC is everywhere in hospitals – tubing, IV bags, gloves, packaging – because it's cheap, flexible, and easy to source.

The problem is what makes it flexible: chemicals called plasticisers, like DEHP, that aren't locked into the plastic. Over time, they leach out. That's a real health concern for patients with repeated or long-term exposure, like preterm babies, dialysis patients, and anyone in intensive care.

So where do you start?

🔵 Focus on the products that touch patients most, and most often – things like tubing, IV lines, and feeding devices. Start in neonatal and intensive care units, where patients are most vulnerable, and exposure adds up fastest.

🔵 Then look past the ward. Once PVC is thrown away, how it's disposed of still matters – burned or handled incorrectly, it can release harmful emissions into the air. Getting disposal and segregation right is as much a part of the fix as choosing a safer product in the first place.

In his latest blog, Saravanan Thangarajan, MDS, MMSc, MBA – Visiting Scientist at Ariadne Labs, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – breaks down what a real transition away from PVC actually requires.

Read the full blog 👉 https://europe.noharm.org/news/pvc-free-healthcare-not-product-swap-it-systems-test

04/08/2026

https://www.thelancet.com/issue/S2542519626X2006X

Read the current issue of The Lancet Planetary Health, a monthly open access journal publishing content on planetary health, environment, sustainable development, and the SDGs

02/08/2026

🚨The evidence is 25 years old. The problem isn't. Why is PVC still in our hospitals?

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a material we have known to pose concerns since the 1970s. Yet it remains widely used across healthcare – in IV bags, tubing, and gloves.

PVC is naturally hard, so manufacturers add chemicals called plasticisers – like DEHP – to make it soft and flexible. But these chemicals aren't permanently locked into the plastic. Over time, they leach out into everything they touch, including IV fluids, blood, and the bodies of premature babies in intensive care.

📊 A 2024 study at Antwerp University Hospital found that nearly 1 in 3 premature babies in intensive care were exposed to potentially unsafe levels of phthalates. Yet the EU still allows DEHP in medical devices until 2030.

In her latest blog, Muna Khalil – pharmacist, PhD researcher, and member of Pharmacists for Future – unpacks why healthcare is still relying on PVC and what needs to change.

The evidence is there, safer alternatives exist, and healthcare professionals and procurement teams have the power to choose differently.

Read Muna's full blog 👉 https://europe.noharm.org/news/twenty-five-years-warnings-why-healthcare-must-act-now-phase-out-pvc

02/08/2026

🇪🇺 The EU could save millions, cut healthcare waste, and reduce carbon emissions – if it gets reprocessing rules right.

🔄 Reprocessing (cleaning, disinfecting, sterilising, and restoring select single-use devices) can cut hospital costs by up to 59% and carbon footprints by 30–80%, with no compromise to patient safety.

The Commission's proposed MDR revision is a step in the right direction: for the first time, manufacturers would need to justify single-use labelling, bringing about greater transparency, stronger accountability, and a more harmonised European approach to reprocessing.

But this progress is now at risk. Recent discussions in the European Parliament have introduced amendments that could weaken Article 17 – the part of the regulation that would help make safer reprocessing more possible. Now more than ever, healthcare organisations and professionals need to speak up for reprocessing.

📣 The public consultation is open until 3 August. Use our template to prepare and submit your feedback, it includes a step-by-step guidance and suggested key messages.

🔗https://europe.noharm.org/sites/default/files/2026-07/HCWH%20Europe%20Template%20Public%20Consultation%20-%20MDR%20Revision%20.pdf

02/08/2026

02/08/2026

Rekordvarm juni i Västeuropa.
Enligt Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) var juni 2026 den näst varmaste junimånaden globalt sedan mätningarna började, den allra varmaste är juni 2024. Även för Europa i sin helhet var det den näst varmaste juni och om vi begränsar oss till Västeuropa var det den allra varmaste juni. Detta betingades till stor del av en extrem hetta i slutet av månaden. Världshavens ytvattentemperaturer var den högsta som uppmätts för en juni månad, vilket ligger i fas med en framväxande El Niño i Stilla havet.
Hela sammanfattningen i första kommentaren.

02/08/2026

Kom med du också!

Välkommen till en folkfest där vi fyller Stockholms gator – enade för klimatet! Vi står bakom och kommer att medverka i Den stora klimatdemonstrationen, ett initiativ av Naturskyddsföreningen, Researchers’ Desk, Rebellmammorna och Rebellpapporna. Målet är att skapa en stor, färgglad och ...

19/07/2026

🌍 This Plastic Free July, we'd like to highlight some of the work our Born Green Generation partners have been doing – and hopefully inspire you with it.

In just one year:

🚀 Nearly 40,000 babies were born or treated with less plastic exposure
🚀 34,160 plastic devices were eliminated
🚀 Over 7.6 tonnes of plastic were removed, and
🚀 €257,000 was saved

None of it started with a grand strategy. It started with small, pertinent changes:

🇫🇷 In France, Centre Hospitalier d'Angoulême replaced single-use plastic baby bottles with reusable glass ones, cutting out 352 kg of plastic and over 17,000 disposable items a year. The idea travelled – Great Ormond Street Hospital is now piloting the same switch.

🇬🇧 In the UK, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust swapped a single-use surgical skin-cleansing device for a reusable metal clamp and an existing sterile kit. It took some retraining and close work with infection prevention specialists, but it saved €19,310 a year – and the trust is now exploring the approach in other surgical procedures

🇩🇰 In Denmark, the Regional Hospital Horsens, part of the Center for Sustainable Hospitals (Center for Bæredygtige Hospitaler), moved its labour ward from disposable to reusable amnioscopes for blood sampling during birth. Adoption is still growing, but it's already saving 4.7 kg of plastic and 83.6 kg of CO2e a year.

🇬🇧 And at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Charity, the team looked closely at how oxygen saturation sensors were actually used, then tailored a reusable, extended-use approach for each. The result: 62 kg of plastic removed and £90,000 saved, without compromising patient safety.

Every one of these changes started the same way: one team, one ward, one question. This Plastic Free July, that's all it takes to begin – your one plastic item could be the start of your hospital's own ripple effect.

Subscribe to the Born Green Generation newsletter to keep following the journey – new case studies, practical tools, and real numbers from wards like yours 👉 https://europe.noharm.org/subscribe