From: Ian blenkharn@ianblenkharn.com
Category: News & information
Date: 28 Feb 2008
Time: 10:09:38 +0100
Remote Name: 81.158.126.34
Still a constant trickle of news reports of clinical wastes lost or dumped or mysteriously found in the environment, with reports from just about every corner of the world.
From our own shores:
"BAG of potentially dangerous hospital waste was dumped outside a Manchester home
"The bright yellow bag, which had been torn open, was found outside the front gate of a house on Wilmslow Road - a route to school for children at nearby Beaver Road Primary.
"The bags, marked with the biohazard and toxicity symbols and `NHS property - Clinical Waste for Incineration Only', can contain waste blood, drip tubes, contaminated needles and scalpels, and body parts.
"We called the Environment Agency but they said they had no one to come out at the time, and they'd put us on a list. They didn't take our name or address or anything, and just told us to call the hospital.
"Karl called the Manchester Royal Infirmary and they said it wasn't theirs, but I don't know how they knew without looking at it."
That's it, deny everything. And of course what were the Environment Agency doing? They were certainly not helping this lady.
And from Ireland:
CIT fined €4,800 for waste breaches
"Cork Institute of Technology has been ordered to pay fines and expenses of almost €5,000 for breaches of the Waste Management Act, after bags which contained human blood used by medical students at the college turned up on the front lawn of a house in Cork.
"Cork Institute of Technology pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Waste Management Act and said it took full responsibility for what it described as 'an error of judgement'.
"Cork District Court was told that Cork County Council litter wardens were alerted after a number of blood bags were found on the front lawn of a house in Cork.
"However, facilities for disposing of the bags at the college had broken down and, it was alleged, an employee brought them home and tried to burn them in a 45-gallon drum. "But the bags were not fully incinerated and a dog dragged some of them onto the lawn where they were found.
Stop laughing, it's serious!