Ocean Dumping Ban Act

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The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (§ 2030) is a United States federal law passed in 1988 that amended the Ocean Dumping Act of 1972. Formerly, ocean dumping was regulated and curtailed by license; this act made the dumping of those materials simply illegal as of 1992. Medical waste is included in the list of banned items, and waste transportation in coastal waters is put under Environmental Protection Agency permit.

This act was contemporary to the incident where medical waste (vials of blood, syringes) washed up on the shores of New Jersey and Long Island during the summer of 1988. It pressured the passage in 1988 of the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA).

[edit] References

• EPA press release and fact sheet, 1988