New Wave of Medical Waste Found on Beaches

A new wave of medically related waste, including a bundle of cardboard tags apparently used in military medical records, was turned over to public health officials Thursday by beach-goers and lifeguards in Oceanside and Del Mar.

The waste was discovered and collected in three spots in North County on Wednesday, marking the first time that medical refuse was found in more than one spot along San Diego County beaches since an unprecedented wave of syringes, lactate bags, surgical gloves and pill bottles washed up on beaches from late October to mid-December.

Several items found in last year’s wave were eventually traced to Navy ships and a military supply depot in Northern California. But federal prosecutors concluded that there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges, and investigators were unable to trace the origin of most of the waste.

Since then, reports of medical waste had been minimal until Wednesday, when several items were found in Oceanside and Del Mar, said Vicky Gallagher, a senior hazardous-materials specialist with the county.

“There’s been a falling off of it,” Gallagher said. “There have been a few things here and there, but we hadn’t had reports in a couple of different places at the same time. And that’s what we have today.”

No Health Hazard Posed

Gallagher said Oceanside lifeguards on Wednesday collected a vial of iodine, two empty serum bottles, a bottle labeled “tuberculin purified protein derivative,” a bottle of nasal decongestant, an empty enema bag and three syringe covers. The items were turned over to the county’s hazardous-materials division Thursday to see if they can be traced, Gallagher said. The items did not pose immediate health hazards, she said.

A beach-goer turned over to the Oceanside lifeguard station a second batch of medical waste that included a syringe, a vial, surgical gloves, surgical masks, birth control pills and a number of cardboard tags that appeared to be used for military medical records, said lifeguard Capt. Matt Stephens.

Stephens said the approximately 20 tags, held together by wire, listed the “names of military personnel and what they were suffering from, like a fractured left leg . . . a bruised thigh.”

One of the designations of rank on the files was “pfc,” Stephens said. The designation is the common abbreviation for private first class. The second batch will be turned over to county health officials today, Gallagher said.

The third sighting of medical waste was on the beach in Del Mar, where a couple of syringes were turned over to lifeguards, she said.

“We’re not talking big, massive quantities” of medical waste, Gallagher said. “What we’re doing is we’re picking the stuff up, and we’ll look at it carefully to see if there is any way we can trace it.”

Chief Petty Officer Craig Huebler, a Navy spokesman, said Thursday he cannot comment on the military tags before the county makes them available for inspection by the military today. Huebler noted that private first class is not a rank used in the Navy. It is used in the Marines.

Regulations Forbid Dumping

Huebler also said that new Navy regulations require all ships at sea not to dump their medical or potentially infectious waste into the ocean, but to retain them on board for proper disposal once the vessel is docked.

Generally accepted guidelines call for infectious medical waste to be run through sterilizing containers called autoclaves before it is placed in red garbage bags for disposal at designated landfills.

Before last year’s wave of medical waste provoked public concern and publicity, only facilities producing more than 220 pounds of waste a month were forced to adhere to those guidelines. Smaller facilities, such as doctors’ offices, could legally toss their medical waste into the regular garbage bins.

But the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted in March to require all facilities in the unincorporated areas to follow the guidelines. The ordinance, which establishes civil and criminal penalties for violators, is scheduled to go into effect July 21, an aide to Supervisor Susan Golding said.