It is one thing to look at a therapy knowing that there are risks inherent in the treatment and weigh the benefit versus the risk. It is something entirely different to unnecessarily create risk for both the provider and the general consumer because we haven't evaluated what we are doing. Cost cannot be an excuse for not doing the right thing since many of the possible changes can actually decrease the cost of the provision of care. The process of providing care produces an enormous amount of waste that needs to be disposed of. In mistaken efforts to protect the public most medical waste, that is, the waste generated in the provision of illness and health care has been incinerated.
Incineration releases significant toxins into the environment.
A particularly dangerous toxin is dioxin. Dioxin was declared a potent human carcinogen by the International Agency of Cancer Researchers in February 1997. Additionally, we have continued to unnecessarily use instruments and products containing heavy metals, for example, mercury, a known neurotoxin. There are several categories of waste from health care facilities. Not all potentially infectious waste needs to be incinerated.