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SUNDAY TRIBUNE Durban, 18 April 2004 NIYANTA SINGH reports: A LITTLE less than half the medical waste in KwaZulu-Natal cannot be accounted for, suggesting that it is being illegally dumped, buried or burned. The impact of this, according to Ferrial Adam, a researcher with environmental group groundWork, is the effect on the environment and the health of people. Children have been found playing with medical waste such as syringes. According to Adam, another major concern surrounding healthcare waste disposal is the quick-fix approach of burning the waste. "Incineration has been identified as one of the major sources of dioxin in the environment, due to the burning of chlorinated plastics like PVC. Mercury contamination of the environment is another concern when burning medical waste. Incinerators are dangerously polluting technologies and that undermines the objectives of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, ratified by South Africa." She said that groundWork had found evidence in 1999 of illegal dumping at Umlazi Waste-Tech, when the organisation's Bobby Peek and Clive Kid found raw medical waste there, and again in 2000-2001, at the Edendale Sewer. Llewellyn Leonard, groundWork waste project co-ordinator, will speak at a workshop organised by Pro-Biodiversity Conservationists in Uganda from April 17-25, on ways of improving healthcare waste management and medical waste incineration. ?? |
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