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HOSPITAL PATIENTS VULNERABLE TO TOXIC
PESTICIDES
There are 5,810 registered hospitals in the U.S. that see
about 32 million inpatients, 83 million outpatients and 108
million emergency room patients per year. Thus a large number
of individuals may be exposed to toxic pesticides in health
care settings. Some hospital patients are especially
vulnerable to the toxic effects of pesticides.
Hospitals
have a special obligation to demonstrate leadership in
instituting effective and safer pest management in keeping
with the medical profession's basic tenet of "first, do
no harm."
Fortunately,
a method of pest control called Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
eliminates or greatly reduces the need to respond to pests
with hazardous pesticide products and helps ensure a healthier
environment for hospital patients, staff, and visitors. The
focus of IPM is to prevent pest problems by reducing or
eliminating sources of pest food, water, and shelter in
hospitals and on their grounds and by maintaining healthy
lawns and landscapes. The first approach to controlling a pest
outbreak is improving sanitation, making structural repairs
(such as fixing leaky pipes and caulking cracks), and using
physical or mechanical controls such as screens, traps and
weeders. A least hazardous chemical is used only when other
strategies have failed. If a pesticide is used, the hospital
community must be notified prior to the application in order
to take necessary precautions.
IPM
strategies are successfully being implemented at schools,
parks, government facilities and hospitals nationwide. For
example, IPM programs at Oregon Health and Sciences
University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University,
the City of San Francisco, Seattle Parks and Recreation
Department, New York City Public Schools, the General Services
Administration demonstrate that IPM can be economically and
effectively implemented.
This
report, along with the 1995 reports, A Failure to Protect by
Beyond Pesticides and the New York Attorney's General report
Pest Management in New York State Hospitals, adds to the data
available on the types and amounts of pesticides used at
health care facilities across the country. It confirms and
elaborates on previous findings that hazardous pesticides are
commonly used in U.S. hospitals.
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