Editorial: Reason is needed on medical waste

The public was saturated by media coverage of a recent medical waste scandal at US EnviroMedical Corp.'s North Las Vegas plant, which was found to be illegally dumping the waste on its own property. Despite the initial fears that this might pose a hazard to the public, the Sun's John Wilen reported last Sunday that there are no scientific studies that suggest the type of waste at issue was any more dangerous than typical household garbage.

The Sun review also found there are no local, state and federal requirements that require Nevada companies to treat their medical waste in any special way before it's sent to a landfill. But that isn't stopping Silver State Disposal Service, the only medical waste hauler in Las Vegas, from insisting that all medical waste it receives at its Apex dump be treated by steam sterilization. That special treatment carries a hefty price tag. Silver State charges 10 times more to haul and treat medical waste than it does for regular garbage.

It's not as if there aren't guidelines already in place for physicians, dentists and hospitals to properly handle medical waste. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations mandate that sharp objects, including needles and glass slides, be placed in rigid containers. Meanwhile, other medical waste can be put in double plastic bags. According to state and federal regulations, these boxes and bags can be placed in garbage dumps without special handling. Silver State, though, makes hospitals pay extra for the handling and treatment of the boxes and bags.

On the scientific front, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 1990 that untreated medical waste can be disposed of safely in sanitary landfills. A 1992 editorial in an American Medical Association publication was harsh in its assessment of stricter rules by garbage companies to dispose of medical waste: "If the new rules won't benefit the public health or protect the environment, who will they help? Medical waste companies, that's who. These companies are lobbying hard for broad new requirements that will transform the nation's physicians and dentists into cash customers."

Garbage companies naturally would like to see tougher regulations for the disposal of medical waste because it's so profitable. When you can charge 10 times the amount you currently charge, why not seek more regulations to increase your profits?

At Lake Mead Hospital Center this translates into the hospital paying $150 a month for its regular garbage disposal, but between $1,500 to $2,000 monthly for its medical waste disposal. However, this isn't simply a case of a hospital sticking it to wealthy physicians or dentists. Ultimately, the cost gets passed on to the consumer of health care services. To put this into perspective, the administrator of the Lake Mead Hospital Center said the higher medical waste disposal bills can cost each of the center's 500 monthly patients an additional $5.

It's important that government take reasonable steps to protect the public from a variety of environmental dangers, whether it's in the water we drink, the air we breathe, or the way we dispose of garbage. Often, science points to dangers and the government ignores its responsibility to protect the public.

This is an instance, however, where the science to date has not found a need for the type of measures that Silver State is requiring of physicians, dentists and hospitals in the valley. Until independent, scientific studies show that additional treatment of medical wastes is needed, Silver State should stop making hospitals and other medical providers pay unnecessary disposal costs.

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