• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!
  • Welcome to our archives. No new posts are allowed here.

Polluting causes health problems

stsburns

American Infidel
DP Veteran
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
1,297
Reaction score
46
Location
Pergatory
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Centrist
Improper Disposal of Hazardous Substances and Resulting Injuries --- Selected States, January 2001--March 2005

Many consumer and industrial products, including fuels, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, and household cleaning disinfectants, contain hazardous substances. Improper disposal of these materials can lead to unexpected releases of toxins that are hazardous to humans and harmful to the environment. This report summarizes all known events involving improper disposal of hazardous substances reported to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) during January 2001--March 2005, describes four illustrative case reports, and provides recommendations for preventing injury resulting from improper disposal.

ATSDR maintains the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system to collect and analyze data about the public health consequences (i.e., morbidity, mortality, and evacuation) of hazardous-substance--release events.* The information in this report is based on events reported to HSEES from 18 participating state health departments† during January 2001--March 2005.§ Improper disposal events are defined as events in which a hazardous substance is placed in municipal waste and subsequently causes a release or potential release that requires (or would have required) removal, clean-up, or neutralization according to federal, state, or local law.

Summary of HSEES Data

A total of 36,784 events involving release of hazardous substances were reported to HSEES during January 2001--March 2005. Of these, 107 (0.3%) were associated with improper disposal. All 18 states reported this type of event, with New York (47 [44%] events) and Washington (13 [12%]) reporting the most events. Sixteen (15%) events involved fires or explosions. Of the 159¶ known improper disposal locations, releases occurred most frequently in residential (59 [37%]) and commercial settings (53 [33%]). Of the 284** total substances involved in improper disposal events, the most common substances were hydrochloric acid (24 [8%]), acid not otherwise specified (15 [5%]), and iodine-131 (six [2%]).

Of the 107 events, 35 (33%) resulted in injuries to 69 persons, 64 (93%) of whom were categorized as employees. HSEES does not collect specific information on type of employee injured (e.g., sanitation worker). However, evaluation of the comment field on incidence reports indicated that more than half (39 [57%]) of the 64 injured employees were sanitation workers.

The 69 injured persons had a total of 101 reported injuries, most frequently respiratory irritation (46 [46%]), dizziness or other central nervous system symptoms (12 [12%]), eye irritation (11 [11%]), and burns (nine [9%]). Forty-two (61%) injured persons were treated at hospitals but not admitted, 11 (16%) were treated at the scene, four (6%) were examined by private physicians, three (4%) were treated at hospitals and admitted, and three (4%) were sent to hospitals for observation. The remaining six (9%) persons experienced adverse health effects within 24 hours of exposure; these injuries were reported through official channels (e.g., fire or police departments, emergency medical services, or poison control centers). No deaths occurred.

Evacuation was ordered for 13 (12%) of the 107 events. The number of evacuees was known for nine of the events, for which 74 persons were known to have evacuated; the number of persons per event ranged from two to 25 (median: six persons per event). The median length of evacuation was 3 hours (range: 1--82 hours).

Of the 97 (91%) events for which decontamination status was known, decontamination of potentially exposed persons was necessary in 31 (32%) events. Ninety-two persons were decontaminated; of these, 61 (66%) were emergency responders, 29 (32%) were employees (i.e., sanitation workers or employees of the industry involved in the release), and two (2%) were members of the general public.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5436a2.htm
 
Why is it when you go to a tree hugger events like earth day when everyone leaves there is a pile of trash on the ground left for someone else to pick up? Where is the so called respect for the earth then? Why are so many things you purchase at earth day events placed in plastic bags?
 
DHard3006 said:
Why is it when you go to a tree hugger events like earth day when everyone leaves there is a pile of trash on the ground left for someone else to pick up? Where is the so called respect for the earth then? Why are so many things you purchase at earth day events placed in plastic bags?

Plastic bags are recycleable.

Can you really make that generalization? I am guessing that you probably do not attend many "earth day" events so how you came up with that statement seems not credible to me.
 
Why the big whine about disposal of left over paints, solvents, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc.?
They pollute during USE as well. So we should leave things unpainted? try to raise crops with out chemicals? how are we going to have a surplus to feed the starving masses in the rest of the world? The USA exports a LOT of food to help them, and we would not have the excess food crops to export without chemicals. Whether you dump the chemicals on the ground in use, or in disposal, it all gets into the air and water. The trick is to minimize the usage, not stop completely, and much has been done in that direction. Gene research to come up with food crops that are inherently resistant to disease and insects has helped some. Irradiating food products to kill bacteria, mold, fungus, etc. has helped reduce spoilage. But guess what, people whine about that as well. They don't want to grow their own food, but do want to have a say in how it is done.
What was that story about the little red hen? Could be it needs to be updated a little.:spin:
 
I think you missed the part of my post when I said "Improper Disposal!"
 
stsburns said:
I think you missed the part of my post when I said "Improper Disposal!"

stsburns, no republican/conservative really cares about the effects that improper disposal of chemicals has on our health. They don't care about how coal-fired power plants cause increased death in adults and increased asthma in children. Nope. Their head honchos have been slowly eroding the environmental regulations because they want to help the industry. What kind of president appoints someone to work for the Environmental Protection Agency who worked in the energy industry? An a$$hole.
 
aps said:
stsburns, no republican/conservative really cares about the effects that improper disposal of chemicals has on our health. They don't care about how coal-fired power plants cause increased death in adults and increased asthma in children. Nope. Their head honchos have been slowly eroding the environmental regulations because they want to help the industry. What kind of president appoints someone to work for the Environmental Protection Agency who worked in the energy industry? An a$$hole.
Improper disposal is only in addition to improper use, when it comes to pollution. Overuse of herbicides and pesticides end up in the water table, thus ending up in wells, and then on to our drinking water. Likewise overusage of hazardous chemicals used in industry. They will use the cheapest method to produce their products, whether it be food or microchips, in order to maximize short term profits. It is a form of pollution that is seldom addressed. Most governmental agencies will only act when someone gets caught dumping large amounts of waste chemicals directly into the air or water, and completely ignore the daily small amounts that add up over a few months to being the same as a spill, or dumping, of the same chemicals.
And if you think it is only Repubs/Conservatives, you are wrong. Even Al Gore's family owned company was caught doing it. If it means more $$$$, nearly all of us are tempted to pollute.
 
UtahBill said:
Improper disposal is only in addition to improper use, when it comes to pollution. Overuse of herbicides and pesticides end up in the water table, thus ending up in wells, and then on to our drinking water. Likewise overusage of hazardous chemicals used in industry. They will use the cheapest method to produce their products, whether it be food or microchips, in order to maximize short term profits. It is a form of pollution that is seldom addressed. Most governmental agencies will only act when someone gets caught dumping large amounts of waste chemicals directly into the air or water, and completely ignore the daily small amounts that add up over a few months to being the same as a spill, or dumping, of the same chemicals.
And if you think it is only Repubs/Conservatives, you are wrong. Even Al Gore's family owned company was caught doing it. If it means more $$$$, nearly all of us are tempted to pollute.

UtahBill, I am always stunned when I hear repubs/cons tell me that they don't care about the environment. Look at who is working at EPA now. It's a bunch of republicans who are attempting to unravel cases that were filed while Clinton was president. My husband works in environmental enforcement for the Dept. of Justice. I believe that almost every one he works with is a democrat. Hmmmmmmmmmmm
 
aps said:
UtahBill, I am always stunned when I hear repubs/cons tell me that they don't care about the environment. Look at who is working at EPA now. It's a bunch of republicans who are attempting to unravel cases that were filed while Clinton was president. My husband works in environmental enforcement for the Dept. of Justice. I believe that almost every one he works with is a democrat. Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Not sure what you are getting at, but I am sure that everyone has favorite cows that never get killed. My point is, if $$$ is involved, politics will bend to the right or left if it means someone getting some of the $$.
 
Back
Top Bottom