Feature story - 21 February, 2002
Buenos Aires has become the first city in South America to ban the toxic menace of medical waste incineration.
Polluting emmisions from a US waste incinerator
This victory follows six months of Greenpeace campaigning in the
city for the ban which involved large public demonstrations and
huge numbers of emails, faxes and telephone calls to the city
legislators calling for the ban.
Currently most of the medical waste in Buenos Aires is
incinerated on the outskirts of the city releasing cancer causing
poisons such as dioxin into the environment. Under the new law
medical waste from the city must be disposed of by alternative non
polluting technologies.
If approved by the Governor of the city in the coming week the
ban will be come law. This represents a welcome piece of good news
for residents after recent turbulent events in Argentina.