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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Anti-Medical Waste Incenerator Groups Brings BJC To Bargaining Table |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jon R. Pike
Email: profpike (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!) |
05 Aug 2002
Modified: 05:48:38 PM |
Medical Waste Incenerator Activists Continue To Picket, Meet With Hospitals And Use Electoral Politics To
Bring An End To Medical Waste Pollution In St. Louis |
The Medical Waste Incenerator Group has won a victory of sorts. BJC Health Systems (http://www.bjc.org/) has agreed to meet with the activists over the health corporation's use of a medical waste incenerator, located on St. Louis' North Side. Critics of the plant charge that the dioxins pumped out of the incenerator's smokestacks are an example of environmental racism. Environmental racism, according to these activists, is the placing of hazardous chemical sites within minority communities on the premise that minority communities don't fight back. These activists believe that companies like Stericylce (www.Stericylce.com) don't put their facilities in majority white communities for this reason. The Medical Waste Incenerator Group notes that St. Louis County has an ordinance prohibiting such facilities, while the city does not. The group is targeting the hospitals that send their waste to Stericycle as well as working on ordinances that will restrict or even prohibit their operation in the city.
The Medical Waste Incenerator Group has suspended its protests against BJC Health Systems, for now. According to Gateway Greens member (http://www.greens.org/s-r/gga/) , Kathleen Logan Smith, BJC has agreed to meet with the protesters. The BJC offices on Forest Park Boulevard were the target of pickets on July 11th and more picketing was scheduled for July 23rd. But, Logan Smith says the picket was called off due to the promised meeting on August 13th.
Logan Smith says that their group is trying to get BJC to sign a 'Pledge Not To Burn.' The basic points of the pledge are:
1.) Agreeing to have medical waste that is generated at the hospital be treated by a non-inceneration technology, unless required by law to incenerate specific wastes.
2.) Establishing systems to minimze quantity and toxicity of medical waste generated.
3.) Implementing purchasing programs that help minimize the toxicity of wastes by seeking safe substitutes for PVC and mercury-containing products.
The last point of the pledge is specifically aimed at curbing the release of dioxins, which are linked to cancer.
Logan Smith says that if the principles of the pledge are adhered to by the signatories, 'the amount of medical waste that will actually have to be burned is minimal.'
Logan Smith says that the reason the group is going after the local health care business right now, is in part, because the Board of Alderman is out of session until September. When the board reconvenes, Logan Smith says that the group will continue to lobby for Board Bills 20 and 21.
Logan Smith says the two board bills are similar in that they focus on minimizing the amount of waste that's generated, requiring monitoring of the stacks for emissions and requiring neighborhood approval before such businesses get a city lisence to operate. Logan Smith says that Board Bill 20, sponsored by Second Ward Alderman Dionne Flowers is stricter in its requirements than Board Bill 21, sponsored by First Ward Alderman, Freeman Bosely, Sr.
In addition, Flowers has advocated that the activists work with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (http://www.dnr.state.mo.us/homednr.htm )to revoke the plant's state permit and lobby state lawmakers to pass legislation to prohibit the operation of such incenerators in the city.
But until the board comes back into session, Logan Smith says her group will continue to target hospitals until they agree to meet to discuss the pledge. The next target for protest is Tenet Health Care,(http://www.tenethealth.com/ ) which runs Forest Park Hospital, on August first, unless Tenet Health Care officials agree to meet with them. Next on the agenda, is SSM Health Care(http://www.ssmhc.com/ ).
Logan Smith also says that the group will be organizing environmental training sessions in the near future. She says she's hoping that one one of the training sessions will include a representative from the organization , Health Care Without Harm (http://www.noharm.org/ ).
Logan Smith has characterized corporate media coverage of this issue as uneven. She says she has noticed no reports in the Post-Dispatch. But she says that KMOX and Channel Four have covered some of their actions, with most of the coverage coming from Channel Five.
Recent televison ads for Alderman Jim Shrewsbury's campaign for President of the Board of Alderman have made the stopping medical waste pollution a campaign issue. It would appear that the Medical Waste Incenerator Group has gained a powerful ally and with it,possibly more media attention.
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