Eight Long Island beaches have closed after medical waste washed ashore. Dozens of needles, syringes, pill bottles and other medical wastes were found by lifeguards.
Best guesses for the source include dumping from ships or a consequence of the recent high rainfall, but somehow or other it “just washed in”.
There are severe safety implications following incidents of this type. As well as the unsightly nuisance of these items, children and others may come into contact with potentially harmful items. The risk continues into the long term unless wastes are collected quickly as these become buried in strand line debris and covered in soft sand. Sooner, or perhaps later, it is inevitable that some innocent beach user will find them and suffer a deep sharps or needlestick injury while walking barefoot on the sand.