Rebekah A. Hall

Washington, D.C. -- The Medical Waste Institute (MWI), a policymaking arm within the National Solid Wastes Management Association, has blocked the Underwriters Laboratories Inc.’s Standards for Alternative Treatment Technologies for the Disposal of Medical Waste (UL 2334) from becoming an American National Standard.

Under UL 2334, bulk blood and other medical liquid waste suctioned into a canister during medical procedures would be treated with spores. But once treated, the canisters would be disposed of with other solid waste.

"The standard was developed without adequate scientific and technical documentation and would have lowered the existing standard for the disposal of medical waste," Alice Jacobsohn, director of MWI, says.