How does adding bleach to a collected waste stream present a potential human health hazard?
Common household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) may cause only temporary effects as a localized skin or eye irritant and will readily degrade to sodium chloride in a sewer system and the environment. The human health and environmental hazard from normal bleach discharges is virtually non-existent. For more information, reference the “Risk Assessment Report for Sodium Hypochlorite” Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER), Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission, Europa 2008. The human health hazard from mixing bleach into a collected fluid medical waste stream prior to direct discharge into a sewer system is the potential for the sodium hypochlorite in the collected waste stream mixture to react with other organic compounds also present in the sewer system. Common hard surface cleaners and disinfectants employed in hospitals contain active ingredients that can react to produce chlorinated volatile organic compounds which pose a hi
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