Discarded Needles, A Danger for Children

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A child’s imagination can transform the mundane into the fantastical. In the eyes of a child a simple cardboard box can become a castle and a table can become a fort. This ability to daydream is one of the hallmarks of childhood, but it can also prove dangerous if the repurposed toy is a used sharp. Every year children around the globe are the victims of Community Acquired Accidental Needle Stick Injuries. Discarded sharps represent a serious threat to public health when they are disposed of in improper ways. Victims of Accidental Needle Stick Injuries are at danger of developing diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV and Syphilis among others.

In October of 2008, Teresa Garcia-Guerra of Austin, Texas received news that would terrify any parent. A kindergartener had stuck herself and Garcia-Guerra’s child as well as two schoolmates with a discarded needle found in the public park, which adjoined the school. Months of anxiety and doctors visits followed as the children were tested at different intervals for diseases associated with used needles. After the incident, the school responded by restricting access to the park's public restrooms and instructing the school's custodians to do a morning surveillance of the park playground. While these measures are an appropriate preliminary post-incident reaction, they are not a sustainable manner of preventing future such injuries over an extended period and cannot reasonably be implemented in all public locations where Needle Stick Injuries might occur.

With current estimates predicting that half of the American population will be diabetic or pre-diabetic by 2020, the rates of sharps circulating in the general public are likely to rise dramatically as more and more peo...

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...y city health or sanitation workers of these filled rigid sharps containers have proven successful in many cities. Providing self-injectors with the knowledge and means to discard of their sharps in a conscientious manner at the point of disbursement allows for targeted intervention. The cost of the containers could be subsidized by various state or federal agencies and by non-profit groups aimed at protecting public health to assure that they are accessible to all self-injecting groups. Easy and affordable access to rigid plastic containers designed for prudent discarding of used sharps benefits the community at large.

Clearly outlining to the general public how money spent on needle disposal is advantageous to those who do not self-inject as well as those who do, is a key component to any plan if public funds are to be spent on sharps intervention programs.

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