Page 38 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

main rivers and waterways.

Hospitals generate an enormous share of the waste burden, an estimated six

million tons/year. This translates into about 34 pounds of waste per patient per

day during a hospital stay.9 Surgical procedures generate a third of all hospital

waste. A single knee replacement generates more waste than a family of four

does in a single week. Surgical waste includes everything from disposable

gowns, plastics, gloves and drapes, to sponges, gauzes and other infectious

materials. On average, 64 plastic wrappers, 41 sterile surgical gloves, 29 green

sterile towels, 10 vinyl gloves, five surgical gowns, five surgical drapes and three

table covers are used per knee replacement, as reported in the Canadian Journal

of Surgery.10

Medical waste winds up in landfills, which contributes to greenhouse gasses.

Large amounts of dioxins, polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs), mercury, cadmium and

arsenic are emitted in the incineration of paper and plastics in medical waste--

extremely toxic chemicals that wind up in the soil, waters and in their inhabitants,

which in turn are consumed by humans and contribute to birth defects, immune

11
dysfunction and cancers.

The enormous scope and global effects of medical waste pollution cannot be

adequately expressed here. It is a critical challenge to our environment, our

health and our progeny. Is it possible that the very system designed to help us in

time of illness contributes largely to the cause of our diseases? Does the

physician consider this when writing the prescription or admitting her patient to

the hospital? Does the patient consider this when making choices about what

ways she will treat her maladies or what steps she can take to prevent them to

begin with? If we lived as if our choices about our health and wellbeing mattered

not only to our families and ourselves but also to all other living beings as kin,

might we live differently?