This incineration of medical waste creates very serious public health and environmental problems. It pollutes our air, our waters, and our soil with a toxic stew of pollutants (dioxins, mercury, particulate matter, heavy metals, nitrous oxides and more). Yet 90% or more of this waste could be safely diverted from incineration. Alternative treatment technologies are available and approved by regulatory agencies. These technologies (eg, autoclave, microwave) provide a much healthier alternative to incineration.Why is it that this is the first time I've heard about this? This just comes to show how more aware and educated we need to be about the problems and campaigns that are happening right down the street! So please, go and spread this around. And if you want an even closer look, check out this video: http://bredl-medwaste.org/videos.htm. Heck, or just go visit it yourself!
As students of Elon we should definitely be getting involved in this program. We need to raise awareness on campus of these problems and hopefully we can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteinteresting, I definitely thought that incineration was a thing of the past, especially for north carolina, a state with so many trees!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think about all of the bad things that are still being put in to the air we breathe. I never really thought about this before but people do need to become aware to what is happening!
ReplyDelete-It's Not Easy Being Green