CLINICAL WASTE AND COMBINED HAZARD OF EXPOSURES

Clinical waste and combined hazard of exposures Comparison study between hospitals in UK & Libya



Clinical waste and combined hazard of exposures Comparison study between hospitals in UK & Libya

Introduction

Clinical waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures of UK & Libya. Waste is considered clinical if it is poisonous, radioactive, explosive, carcinogenic (causing cancer), mutagenic (damaging chromosomes), teratogenic (causing defects in the unborn), or bioaccumulative (accumulating in the bodies of plants and animals and thus in food chains). Clinical wastes result from industrial, chemical, and biological processes. In the early years of the 21st century, U.K. factories released 3 to 4 million tons of clinical chemicals into the air, land, and water annually, including more than 70 million pounds of known carcinogens. Toxins are also found in household, office, and commercial wastes, such as batteries and pesticides, and in cell phones and computers. Five hundred billion gallons of U.S. groundwater are contaminated with uranium and other clinical chemicals. Another 800 million gal of uranium waste is buried in landfills, trenches, and unlined tanks.

The “dirty dozen”—12 of the world's worst chemical toxins—comprises nine chemicals used as pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, and toxaphene), two by-products of chemical production and the burning of chlorinated substances (dioxins and furans), and a group of industrial pollutants known collectively as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Toxins such as arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc are chemicals known as persistent toxins because they linger in the environment for long periods in UK & Libya.

The Dangers of Clinical Waste

In 1962, Rachel Carson, a biologist, ecologist, and writer, penned Silent Spring. The book described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. Carson wrote that a single application on a crop not only killed targeted insects for months but also destroyed countless more and remained clinical in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater. Carson argued that DDT and other pesticides had contaminated the entire world food supply. A powerful chapter titled “A Fable for Tomorrow” portrayed a nameless American town where all life—from fish to birds to apple blossoms to human children—had been “silenced” by the insidious effects of DDT. Silent Spring provoked widespread public alarm. Carson's conclusion that pesticides had contaminated the entire world food supply raised awareness of the dangers of persistent bioaccumulative toxins.

Well before Silent Spring, the risks of clinical wastes were evident. For example, lead was a known toxin in the 19th century, with reformers documenting lead poisoning in the workforce and leading cleanup efforts. Nevertheless, auto companies, oil companies, and the government authorized the manufacture, distribution, and use of tetraethyl lead in gasoline in the 1920s. Health officials warned against depositing millions of pounds of inorganic lead dust onto the streets from car exhaust. However, the lead industry pointed to lead's importance to the automotive and petrochemical industries, calling ...