THE FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE I CREATED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE STORY BROKE ON TV
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dr. Steve Markus 856 546 0665
ON THE DUMPING
OF BIOHAZARDOUS WASTE
IN TOWNSEND’S INLET
Haddon Heights, NJ – Needless to say, the lead story tonight on Action News about the dentist from Wynwood who wantonly dumped waste from his dental office into the inlet and it eventually caused the Labor Day week and weekend closing of beaches in and around Avalon, NJ has made quite a stir on internet dental discussion boards.
What the media needs to understand is that there are minor monthly costs involved in having dental waste managed by a licensed carrier. I was not surprised to hear neighbors surrounding his home/office extolling what a great dentist this man is. What the public and his patients and neighbors need to understand is that if he was taking this shortcut around legislated mandates, where else was he cutting corners? How long has he made it a practice to dispose of his own waste?
Most dentists cannot escape the scrutiny of trained auxiliaries and flout the law so obviously. Many dentists who practice in small offices, with little or no staff have much greater opportunity to take such shortcuts because there is no professional oversight.
A question that the media, and state DEP and wildlife authorities need to ask is how much mercury from dental amalgam capsules was leaked into this fabulous fishing and wildlife sanctuary? Dentists are required to turn over all unused dental mercury amalgam scrap to a medical waste hauler. As of September 1, 2008, all newly opened dental offices in New Jersey were required to install mercury separators to prevent the contamination of sewage treatment facilities with mercury. All offices in the state will be mandated to retrofit mercury separators by September of 2009. Dentists are not supposed to dump mercury down the drains of their buildings, but continue to do so because there is no oversight. The public also needs to stop being confused by the ADA telling dentists that the mercury is safe in their mouths, but is hazardous to the environment when flushed down the toilet.
I would encourage investigative reporters to begin the process of determining whether (as the initial stories reported) mercury was dumped into the inlet, and how much. A teaspoon of mercury in a one acre lake is sufficient to close it to fishing for a lengthy time. To dismiss this transgression using his wife’s cancer as an excuse is folly.
I am tired of seeing the pollution of our wetlands and beaches. This deliberate act I would wager was not the first time Dr. McFarland has done this, it’s just the first time he was caught. Our profession believes it can police itself, instructing dentists to use “best management practices” to self-regulate their own mercury and biohazardous wastes. Based on what I am told by my auxiliaries who “temp” in other offices, there is a need for better supervision.
Were this man to become the example of what will happen when one ignores the damage to the environment, perhaps others would start thinking twice. This story needs to be more fully investigated, and state authorities need to be questioned as to how many months or years of hazardous waste shipping manifest are missing from this dentist’s log books. This story goes far deeper than the closing of beaches for a few days. Who knows what the impact on society will be if the waters of the inlet and offshore are closed to fishing. I know I wouldn’t eat any freshly caught fish from those waters.
SJM