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Medical Waste: A Minimal Hazard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

John H. Keene
John H. Keene*
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, Biomedical Engineering Program, School of Basic Health Sciences, Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, and Biohaztec Associates, Inc, Midlothian, Virginia
*
Biohaztec Associates, Inc., 924 Castle Hollow Rd., NE, Midlothian, VA 23113
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Extract

Healthcare providers need to be aware of the facts regarding the environmental impact of regulated medical wastes and be prepared to voice concern over unnecessary and costly regulations. The wash-ups of waste, a small percentage of which was medical waste, on the beaches on New York and New Jersey in the summers of 1987 and 1988 prompted an immediate response by state and federal governments. Although it was demonstrated that this medical waste did not originate in healthcare facilities,' the public demanded that their elected representatives do something about what they perceived to be the degradation of the environment and a risk to public health caused by “uncontrolled dumping” of “medical wastes” into the ocean. As a result of these and other occurrences, several environmental concerns regarding the treatment and disposal of medical waste were voiced by the public and acknowledged by the legislators. These included the following: aesthetic damage to the environment; potential public health problems associated with infectious agents in medical waste; and potential environmental contamination with hazardous chemicals and radioactivity associated with medical wastes.

Type
Special Commentary
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 12 , Issue 11 , November 1991 , pp. 682 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1991

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