Your Health and Hazardous Waste
You probably don’t give hazardous waste a second thought most days but chances are you encounter it in some form almost daily. You probably encounter some sort of cleaning products daily in your home or at work and these can contain dangerous chemicals. The electronics we use every day are full of mercury and lead. The fuel you put in your car is full of hazardous chemicals. When these products are thrown out, they become part of the hazardous waste problem.
Hazardous waste has four main characteristics:
- It is corrosive. That means it is capable of destroying some other materials. For example, very acidic or alkaline liquids can burn through metals and your skin and the vapors can damage your mucus membranes.
- It is ignitable. That means it catches fire easily, which makes for a dangerous situation. This often goes along with being an irritant. Some examples are varnish and gasoline.
- It is reactive. That means it has the potential to react dangerously with other chemicals. The reaction could be an explosion or dangerous fume production. Bleach and ammonia are two reactive products.
- It is toxic. This means it is poisonous. If you breathe, inhale, drink or even touch these chemicals, you can be severely injured. An example of a toxic material is a pesticide.
The characteristics of hazardous waste and their health issues refer to the effects that happen right away with exposure. Other kinds of exposure occur when hazardous waste is filtrated into our water or into the earth. This can affect the food supply, which is very dangerous. If people are exposed to even tiny amounts of these chemicals in this way over many years, there can cause serious health issues.
Lead paint was a common form of hazardous waste that used to be in many homes. The paint would chip and children would ingest the paint chips. If this happened on a long term basis, the children often suffered physical and mental problems as a result. Lead poisoning is linked to ADHD, kidney problems, reproduction issues, neurological problems and hearing issues.
There are other forms of hazardous waste that are just as dangerous to our health. One example you have probably heard of is asbestos, which is linked to cancer. Other forms of hazardous waste cause a variety of health problems including liver problems and can affect the immune system. There are close to 100,000 chemicals that we know of that are used frequently all over the world so it is nearly impossible to avoid exposure.
Hazardous waste can be very damaging to the environment and to the health of people exposed to it. Proper disposal of hazardous waste is very important to lower these risks. We as a world need to try to produce less hazardous waste and properly dispose of the waste that is created so health problems do not result from exposure.
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