The State Council is devising a new regulation to better protect public health by tracking medical waste from cradle to grave.
The State Council is devising the regulation in the wake of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis which highlighted waste disposal problems, according to Song Ruilin from the council's Legislative Affairs Office.
"Improper treatment of medical waste, which is different from household garbage, may lead to pollution of the air, water and soil, and eventually jeopardize the health of every single person," said Wang Yue from the Peking University Health Science Center.
Disposal of medical garbage is now governed only by documents of instructions from the Ministry of Health, instead of a national law or administrative regulations which has more legal force.
National People's Congress observers say an administrative regulation is unusually a prelude to the drafting of a law.
(China Daily June 16, 2003)
