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--- PPM Sapiens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Medical waste incineration is poisoning
> communitiesTOLONG JANGAN KIRIM-KIRIM MAIL LAGI!!!
> SAYA TIDAK PERNAH MENDAFTAR KE MAILIST INI!!!
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: HMP
> To: HSE ; Herlinda HB Murap ; Envorum ; DML ; Biotek
>
> Cc: Migas ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; K3_LH Moderator ;
> Lingkungan
> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 3:51 PM
> Subject: [PB] Fw: Medical waste incineration is
> poisoning communities.htm
>
>
> Ini satu lagi bukti bahwa incinerator adalah tidak
> baik utk kita.................
> tolong dibaca dgn seksama............
> kalau tidak mengerti bukalah kamus bahasa
> inggris.............heheheh
>
>
>
> Subject: Medical waste incineration is poisoning
> communities.htm
>
>
>
> Front Page
>
> Medical waste incineration is poisoning communities
> By Susan Forsyth, RN
>
> Even as registered nurses work to protect their
> patients from harm, they often discard wastes that,
> when incinerated, release a deadly chemical that
> causes a myriad of disorders . . . sicknesses that
> nurses work so diligently to treat. The chemical is
> dioxin.
>
> The hazards of dioxin were exposed in 1994 when the
> United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
> issued a critical report on the substance. The EPA
> makes no bones about the chemical's potency, saying
> that dioxin, a known carcinogen, is the most deadly
> substance known to humankind.
>
> Unfortunately, medical waste incinerators have been
> identified as one of the largest sources of dioxin
> air pollution.
>
> Nurses may be more familiar with dioxin as the
> active ingredient in Agent Orange, the defoliant
> widely sprayed over Vietnam during the war. To this
> day, Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange face
> an increased risk of many cancers and other
> endocrine and immune disorders.
>
> And in the States, many will remember the 1982
> environmental disaster when dioxin-contaminated oil
> was sprayed on the streets of Times Beach, Mo., to
> control dust. The town of 2,000 residents had to be
> evacuated and all of the houses and businesses were
> demolished.
>
> (Read how communities are fighting back against
> Incinerators)
>
> Yet this deadly poison continues to be created
> through medical waste incineration. Unlike most
> household trash, hospital waste contains a large
> amount of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. Commonly
> used PVC items in hospitals include IV bags, IV
> tubing, blood bags, endotracheal tubes, office
> supplies, mattress covers and oxygen tents. (Anyone
> involved in home remodeling or building has come
> across PVC plastic, as it is frequently used in
> houses for water pipes.)
>
> But when PVC plastic is incinerated as a medical
> waste disposal method, dioxin is created as an
> unintended byproduct. Although dioxin is also
> created throughout the life cycle of chlorinated
> plastic, the EPA currently cites medical waste
> incinerators as the third largest source of dioxin
> production.
>
> Nurses generate a lot of garbage during their normal
> workday. Almost every activity a nurse performs,
> from inserting a Foley to starting an IV, creates a
> substantial amount of trash. As the job complexity,
> workload and the use of disposables have increased,
> so has the amount of garbage coming from a hospital.
> Since 1955, the amount of medical waste generated
> per hospital patient has more than doubled.
> Generally, only 10 percent to 15 percent of hospital
> waste is classified as "infectious." Infectious
> waste is "red bagged" and requires special treatment
> to protect the health of the community.
>
> Yet, even that waste does not need to be
> incinerated. According to the Centers for Disease
> Control, no more than 2 percent of a typical
> hospital's waste stream must be incinerated to
> protect public safety. That 2 percent is mainly
> pathological waste, such as body parts. Yet, many
> hospitals routinely burn 75 to 100 percent of their
> waste, which creates this toxin.
>
> Dioxin belongs to a family of 419 chemicals with
> related properties and toxicity, but the term
> "dioxin" is often used to refer to the 29 that have
> similar toxicity. Dioxin is created when industrial
> products containing chlorine are manufactured or
> burned. The most toxic form of dioxin is 2,3,7,8,
> tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD. This is the
> form of dioxin used in Agent Orange and sprayed in
> Times Beach. Dioxin is a known human carcinogen,
> according to the International Agency for Research
> on Cancer (IARC) and the EPA.
>
> In addition to being carcinogenic, dioxin disrupts
> the way human hormones and chromosomes work. Because
> of its endocrine-disrupting qualities, dioxin also
> causes a host of other illnesses and problems,
> including reproductive, neurotoxic, immune system,
> other hormonal and developmental effects. (To See
> list of effects, Click Here)
>
>
> Poisoned Food Chain
> This deadly chemical is omni- present in our
> environment and reaches to all corners of the globe.
> Dioxin is transported by water and atmospherically.
> Because of its ability to travel, dioxin can enter
> the food chain far from its point of origin,
> although the higher levels of contamination are
> usually found closer to the source of production.
> When PVC plastic is incinerated, dioxin is emitted
> from smokestack and also remains in the ash. Both
> end up deposited on the ground.
>
> Dioxin is lipophilic and bioaccumulative. Dioxin is
> first absorbed into plants, animals then eat the
> plants and we eat the animals, with the dioxin
> levels becoming ever greater as the poison moves up
> the food chain. Common human dietary sources of
> dioxin, which account for 90 percent of human
> exposure, include meat, dairy products, eggs and
> fish.
>
> At the top of food chain is the nursing infant.
> Because of the high fat content of breast milk,
> nursing infants are exposed to about 50 times the
> average adult dose and may receive more than 10
> percent of their lifetime exposure during the
> nursing period. Although dioxin is found in breast
> milk worldwide, the concentration is highest in
> women living in industrialized countries and
> Vietnam.
>
> Dioxin is toxic in smaller doses than any other
> chemical known to science. It is measured in parts
> per trillion and smaller. Because of its ability to
> travel so easily, all human beings alive today carry
> a body burden of dioxin.
>
> According to a recently released report by the EPA,
> the risk from acquiring a dioxin-related cancer is
> greater than previous thought for the general
> population, although it is higher for people who
> practice certain dietary habits. The EPA drew a glum
> conclusion: No matter what kind of diet people
> adhere to, their risk for developing cancer from
> dioxin exposure is about one in 1,000. For people
> who eat a very high-fat diet, that risk can rise to
> as high as 1 in 100.
>
> EPA Director Carol Browner suggested that the
> solution to this problem is to advise people eat
> less meat. Although this may make good dietary
> sense, this is not the solution.
>
>
> Cleaning House
> Nurses, as patient advocates, can play a vital role
> in removing this toxic and unnecessary chemical from
> both food and the environment.
>
> "The waste we throw away should not end up poisoning
> our patients," says Charlotte Brody, RN. Brody is an
> organizer with the Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)
> campaign, an international activist coalition that
> includes many nurses and their organizations built
> through the Virginia-based Center for Health,
> Environment and Justice. ( To read more about
> Charlotte Brody, Click Here)
>
> An important area is purchasing. If hospitals do not
> purchase chlorinated plastic products, they cannot
> be
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