Medical Waste Disposal医疗废物处置.doc

Rochester Committee for Scientific Information CPU 276766 River Campus Station Rochester, NY 14627 ____________________________________________________ Bulletin #324 October 1999 ______________________________________________________________________________ Medical Waste Disposal By Joanne Mitchell Introduction The health care industry in the United States generates a huge amount of solid waste. Hospitals alone produce approximately two million tons of waste a year, a figure that has doubled on a per patient basis since 1955. Only about 10-15% of hospital waste is infectious waste; the rest is made up of paper, plastics, food, metal, glass, wood, and other materials. Only about 2% of total hospital waste (the pathological waste—body parts and body fluids needs to be incinerated to protect public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Yet some hospitals routinely incinerate 75-100% of their waste, a needlessly expensive way to dispose of waste. Toxic Pollution from Incineration Disposing of medical waste by incineration creates additional problems, because incineration releases toxic materials into the surrounding community. Two materials are particularly worrisome: Dioxin—Dioxin is actually a family of compounds that are produced when chlorine-containing materials are incinerated. PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastics are a major source of dioxin when they are incinerated. PVC-containing medical products include IV bags, vinyl gloves, and plasma collection bags. Dioxin released by incineration can travel long distances in the air, settle on plants, be eaten by animals, and become concentrated in meat, dairy products, and fish. Even extremely tiny amounts of dioxin have been shown to cause cancer, affect immune systems, cause birth defects, decrease fertility, and affect a variety of hormonal processes. Dioxin does not decompose with time. Instead, it accumulates in the fatty tissue of the human body. It is also found in breast mi