 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mamta Khanna, Health Care Without Harm, Center for Environmental Health, 528 61st Street, Ste. A, Oakland, CA 94609, Bradley Angel, Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice, One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 760, San Francisco, CA 94102, Peter Orris, MD, Division of Occupational Medicine, Cook County Hospital, 1900 W. Polk, Rm. 500, Chicago, IL 60612, and Susan Q. Wilburn, MPH, BSN, RN, Center for Occupational Safety and Health, American Nurses Association, 6125 South Pilgrim Street, Seattle, WA 98118, 202-651-7130, susan.wilburn@att.net.
Medical waste incineration is a leading source of dioxin production in the United States. Concern about dioxin, among environmental health advocates and community groups, led to the creation of a diverse collaborative of healthcare, government, community, environmental and labor organizations and clean air policy limiting dioxin emissions. While the resulting regulatory environment became unfriendly towards emissions from incinerators, community groups pressured for closure of the local medical waste incinerator. With the closure of the incinerator imminent, the San Francisco Bay Area community reached out to communities in the neighboring county and in Arizona where the medical waste would eventually land for treatment. Environmental health advocates in California and Arizona worked together to educate the workers and community about the health effects and were successful in advocating for the incinerator in Arizona also to close. This session will discuss the health effects of incineration and emerging waste treatment technologies and the collaboration between labor and the environment groups to protect occupational and environmental health.
Emerging technology to supplant outmoded and closing medical waste incinerators provided the foundation for collaboration between labor and environmental groups to proactively protect the workers and the environment.
Learning Objectives:
Related Web page: www.noharm.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Health Care Without Harm
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.