First Do No Harm

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Seven, Number Five
July/August 1998

Call to Action:

Tell Doctors and Hospitals: First, Do No Harm!

The hospital industry reportedly has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Environmental Protection Agency to head off possible regulation. They have promised to eliminate mercury from their waste stream over the next seven years, and to reduce their medical waste by half by 2010. That is a beginning.

The incineration of medical waste is a major source of the harm caused by health care. While less than 5 percent of medical waste needs to be incinerated to prevent infectious disease, medical waste accounts for 10 percent of all incineration in the United States.

The unnecessary burning of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, paper, batteries, discarded equipment and other non-infectious materials leads to emission of dioxins, furans, arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium and the generation of toxic ash. Recent studies have also identified certain plastics used in the health care industry that leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals into their contents.

The National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control have documented alarming increases in cancer rates between 1973 and 1995 in children under age 4 and in teenagers aged 15-19.

According to the EPA, 90% of human exposure is through eating dioxin-contaminated food. Two of the largest known sources of dioxin in our food are the incineration of medical waste and garbage. The dioxin that is released into the air settles onto soil, water and plant surfaces, and ends up in the fatty tissues of animals, becoming more concentrated as it ascends the food chain. The dioxin content of human breast milk is higher than in any other food.

In its September 1994 report, the EPA documented the connection between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects, reduced sperm count, endometriosis and reduced testes size. The integrity of global ecosystems is being threatened around the world by man-made endocrine-disrupting chemicals which, because of their persistence in the body, can be passed on from generation to generation.

This public health problem can be solved. The amount of medical waste can be reduced by designing an integrated purchasing and disposal system for medical products which emphasizes the use of non-toxic, recyclable and reusable materials, and eliminates toxic incineration.

The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (formerly the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste) is launching a new initiative: Health Care Without Harm, the Campaign for Environmentally Responsible Health Care.

Eighty-seven organizations have joined the coalition, including four with religious affiliation (Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Catholic Health Care West, two United Methodist boards, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association). They are calling on health care institutions, professionals and workers to stop the harm caused by incineration of medical waste, use of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other environment polluting practices.