Hospital, Heal Thyself

[marmar]

by Stacy Malkan, Conscious Choice...via AlterNet:


Health care officials are finally recognizing that a cleaner, greener hospital keeps the whole community well.

A plate of healthy greens, a breath of fresh air -- hospitals are probably the last place you'd expect to find such age-old aides of healing.

While walking the stuffy hallways of today's typical health care establishments, you're more likely to encounter a plate-full of something bland and wiggly and breathe in a lung-full of toxic fumes.

It's a sad irony of modern living that the health care industry -- the largest single industrial sector in the US economy, and one that generates 2 million tons of waste per year -- adds to the toxic load in a polluted environment that is, in turn, making people sick.

Chronic diseases and conditions now affect more than one third of the US population, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In spite of medical advancements, scientific evidence shows an increase in asthma, autism, learning disabilities, birth defects, childhood brain cancer, endometriosis and other chronic conditions that are linked to toxic pollutants.

Historically, the health care industry has been part of the problem. In 1995, for example, medical waste incinerators were the number-one source of dioxin (the most potent carcinogen known to man) and were responsible for 10 percent of mercury emissions, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/48932/