California Department of Public Health is waiting to hear from CDC on DOT regulations regarding disposal of Ebola waste

The disposal of the contaminated waste generated by Ebola patients receiving the best of care at Emory University Hospital and the Nebraska Medical Center is already the subject of journalistic and public interest.

You can read some expert opinion about this at ““US hospitals unprepared to handle Ebola waste.”

You can read about the extraordinary steps that were taken to sterilize before disposing of Ebola waste in Nebraska in “Clean gear, toss it, burn it – that's med center's Ebola containment strategy." 

In light of these issues, Etopia News queried the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), asking:

“Is CDPH involved in any discussions with the agencies mentioned in that article (DOT, the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency) about how California will deal with Ebola-contaminated waste materials and has it otherwise addressed this problem?”

The CDPH responded:

“CDPH’s Medical Waste Management Unit recently participated in a national conference call with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically addressing medical waste management practices associated with Ebola contaminated waste in clinical facilities. At that time, CDC recognized potential conflicts with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, because Ebola is recognized as a Category A disease agent, which under normal circumstances cannot be transported by California Registered Medical Waste Haulers. CDC is still having further discussions with DOT. CDC will inform CDPH on the outcome of these discussions.”