Thread: Border inspector finds bloody medical refuse

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 30340/1001
Louie Gilot
El Paso Times
Saturday, December 3, 2005

SANTA TERESA -- The 18-wheeler was supposed to be importing scraps of fabric and plastic headed for a New Mexico landfill. Instead, it carried oozing medical waste.

Customs and Border Protection officer Moctezuma Flores inspected the trailer at the Santa Teresa port of entry Thursday night. After a routine X-ray spotted nine bales that weren't declared on the manifest, Flores took a closer look at the tightly bound mix of materials.

He came face to face with bunched up, bloody gauze.

"We sealed everything up and called" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Flores said.

The bales weighed 1,200 to 1,500 pounds, but it was impossible to know how much of the medical waste was mingled with the pieces of fabrics and festive candy-cane plastic bags. A quick overview found blood-stained gauze and a bag of unidentified, yellowish body fluids, squeezed among the cargo. A mystery blue liquid leaked from a package.

The shipment came from Mexico, but officials declined to name the importer and the shipper, because they committed a civil, not a criminal, violation.

The violators may end up paying between $40,000 and $60,000 in fines and costs.

The rest of the cargo included teddy bears and drinking cups supposedly headed for the dump.

"But some of the stuff is in good shape and could have ended up on store shelves somewhere," said Roger Maier, Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

"It's rare and it's scary," he said.

The Centers for Disease Control found no risk of airborne contamination -- only a risk if someone touched the hazardous material.

That is NAUSEATING. YUCK. Those poor border patrol agents. They should get COMBAT PAY for the work they do. They are exposed to dangers from every side and they see the worst of the worst.

Medical wastes in with teddy bears? O good heavens...and how many of those trucks are waved thru without inspection? O good heavens...

RR

It's time to Boycott Christmas.

There is no telling WHAT your gift has been carried in with, touched by, or exposed to.

"All I Want for Christmas Is My Country Back"

Bootsie, you make an excellent point about our Border Patrol Agents. They are exposed to the most disgusting and dangerous things humanity can foment. What great work catching that disgusting trailer.

Why would this be a civil instead of criminal issue? Disgusting medical waste shipped with toys for childlren is a "civil" thing but growing a marijuana plant on your window sill is a "crimiinal" thing?

Our country is insane.

Good point, Judy. WHY would that only be a civil offense?? Think of the ramifications of that truck making it through and those toys getting to CHILDREN who would then be exposed to God Knows WHAT. To me, that sounds CRIMINAL, not CIVIL. There's nothing CIVIL about THAT!