Copyright 2000 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 5, 2000, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A26; EDITORIALS
LENGTH: 341 words
HEADLINE:
Pass the Needle Safety Law
BODY:
THE U.S. Senate
has only a few days left in its session to pass an important federal needle
safety law designed to protect the nation's 8 million health-care workers from
dangerous accidental needle sticks.
With the 106th
Congress on the verge of adjournment, the House this week passed legislation
requiring hospitals and health-care facilities across the country to use needles
and syringes with built-in safety features.
The measure updates OSHA
standards that require medical facilities to use safety syringes that are
self-blunting or automatically cover needle points after use. The Senate must
now pass its identical version of the bill, which has broad bipartisan support
and a promise by the White House that President Clinton will sign it into law.
However, time is running out and it is feared that the Senate bill could
get lost in the shuffle during the legislative scramble to pass last-minute
spending measures.
If the Senate fails to act, the bills would have to
be re-introduced in both houses next year, causing delays during which
health-care workers at every level would be exposed unnecessarily to needle
sticks that can transmit such diseases as AIDS and hepatitis.
According
to the Centers for Disease Control, every year 600,000 to 800,000 health-care
workers -- mostly nurses -- suffer potentially lethal needle sticks, a number
that could be cut by 80 percent with safety needles.
The proposed
federal safety-needle law is modeled on rules adopted in California last year,
after The Chronicle ran a series documenting the terrible consequences of needle
sticks sustained by medical workers. Sixteen other states have since passed
similar laws.
Safety needles have proven to be effective tools in
fighting an epidemic of needle sticks that endanger the health and lives of
thousands every year.
The Senate should take emergency action -- even a
call for "unanimous consent" from all 100 senators -- to speed the bill on its
way to becoming law.
The stakes are too high for further delays.
LOAD-DATE: October 5, 2000
