Legislative history as recent as the late 1980’s, educates us about the general public’s unwavering concerns surrounding health impacts incurred by medical waste disposal. It was during this time in which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still held authority over medical waste handling. As such, under the EPA’s instruction, a short two (2) year waste-tracking study entitled, the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) of 1988 was conducted.

It is crucial to understand some finer details of this orchestrated research. A nine-page directive was drafted and launched within one (1) year through the Reagan administration in response to public outcry following a seemingly deliberate dump of medical waste into the waters. Many concluding from the apparent evidence the intentional illegal disposal arose from companies’ desire to evade associated legal disposal fees of approximately $1500/ton.

It is just as important to understand the socio-political climate of the late 1980s/early 1990’s and the fact that this study empowered EPA officers to carry firearms, execute searches without warrants, and issue fines anywhere from $20K - $50K per day to those they deemed in violation. The geographic reach of this program was “(a) Covered States. –The States within the demonstration program established under this subtitle for tracking medical wastes shall be New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, the States contiguous to the Great Lakes and any State included in the program through the petition procedure described in subsection (c)*, except for any of such States in which the Governor notifies the Administration under (b)** that such State shall not be covered by the program.”

- The terms translate the reach to encompass all States contiguous with the Atlantic Ocean by default and the whole of the United States through easy opt-in.

The two (2) year tracking data collected through this essentially country-wide open program was then studied over a ten (10) year period.

Unchecked

Unveiling the Possibilities of Biodegradable Medical Equipment