Promoting safe, sensible, and ecologically sound solutions throughout, this book

• Discusses risk assessment in terms of human health, persistence of pathogens in the environment, and how these relate to methods of waste disposal
• Deals with questions of policy and environmental regulations that include workplace health and safety and public health issues
• Reviews the medical industry's standards and guidelines for dealing with its waste stream and how they fit in with the EPA's program of medical waste tracking
• Details specific waste management strategies for both major facilities and home healthcare
• Examines the available technologies for dealing with biohazardous waste, particularly incineration and steam sterilization
• Reviews the many alternative treatment technologies, including specifics of newly developed systems and procedures for evaluating their effectiveness and safety
• Lists resources and contacts to help keep up with new technologies and management techniques, and includes appendices with federal and state OSHA contacts and state medical waste contacts
• Provides many illustrations to highlight the text

For professionals in public health, medicine, and waste management; regulatory officials at all levels of government; and environmental scientists and engineers, this volume brings the field of biohazardous waste up-to-date while serving as an excellent guide and reference to some of the more compelling issues of our time.