§ 22a-209b — Biomedical waste. Definitions.

As used in this section and section 22a-209c: (1) “Biomedical waste treatment” means to render biomedical waste noninfectious by decontamination, autoclaving, incineration or by other techniques approved by the commissioner; (2) “Human blood and blood products” means items containing free-flowing liquid waste blood, serum, plasma and other blood products or containers filled with such discarded fluids, except that blood in a glass vial shall be considered a sharp provided intravenous bags which did not contain blood or blood products shall not be considered a blood product; (3) “Free-flowing liquid blood” means blood that is not contained by the disposable item or is visibly dripping; (4) “Body fluid” means blood or any substance which contains visible blood, semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid and pericardial fluid; (5) “Infectious body fluids” means only waste cerebrospinal, pleural and peritoneal fluids. Dialysates shall not be considered blood or body fluids; (6) “Chemotherapy waste” means waste that has come in contact with an antineoplastic agent during the preparation, handling or administration of such an agent. A container which is or has been used to contain such an agent shall be deemed chemotherapy waste even if such container is empty; (7) “Decontaminate” means to substantially reduce or eliminate, by disinfection or other means, any biological hazard that is or may be associated with biomedical waste; (8) “Hypodermic needle and syringe” means needles, syringes and any other types of intravascular device including, but not limited to, in-dwelling catheters and introducers; (9) “Infectious agent” means any organism, such as a virus or bacterium, that is capable of being communicated by invasion and multiplication in body tissue and capable of causing disease or adverse health impacts in humans; (10) “Infectious waste” means types of waste listed in subparagraphs (A) to (G), inclusive, of this subdivision which are capable of causing infectious diseases because there is reason to believe that such waste has been contaminated by an organism that is known or suspected to be pathogenic to humans and such organism may be present in sufficient virulence to transmit disease. The following shall be considered infectious waste: (A) Cultures and stocks of agents infectious to humans and associated biologicals including cultures from medical, clinical, hospital, public health, research and industrial laboratories; wastes from the production of biologicals; discarded live and attenuated vaccines; and culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate, or mix cultures; (B) Human blood, blood products and infectious body fluids; (C) Sharps; (D) Research animal waste which includes contaminated animal carcasses, animal body parts and bedding or animals that were intentionally exposed to infectious agents during research or special laboratory testing, including research in veterinary hospital, production of biologicals, or testing of pharmaceuticals; (E) Isolation wastes; (F) Any material collected during or resulting from the cleanup of a spill of infectious or chemotherapy waste; or (G) Any waste which is mixed with infectious waste and which is neither a hazardous waste, as defined in section 22a-115 , nor a radioactive material subject to section 22a-118 ; (11) “Isolation waste” means biological waste and discarded material contaminated with body fluids from (A) humans who are isolated to protect others from a highly communicable disease, or (B) animals which are isolated because they are known to be infected with a highly communicable disease. A highly communicable disease is one listed in biosafety level 4 of the Centers for Disease Control/National Institutes of Health Guidelines entitled “Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories” and dated May, 1988. These agents include fifteen arboviruses, arenaviruses and filoviruses: Junin, Marburg, Congo-Crimean, hemorrhagic fever, Lassa, Macherpo, Ebola, Guanarito and the tick-borne encephalitis virus complex Absettarov, Hanzalova, Hypr, Kumlinge, Kyasanur Forest disease, Omsk hemorrhagic fever, and Russian spring-summer encephalitis; (12) “Pathological waste” means any human tissue, organ or body part, except teeth and the contiguous structures of bone and gum, removed during surgery, autopsy or other medical procedure. Pathological waste does not include formaldehyde or other preservative agent, or a human corpse or part thereof regulated pursuant to section 7-64 or chapter 368i, 368j or 368k; (13) “Sharps” means discarded sharps that have been used in animal or human patient care or treatment or in medical, research or industrial laboratories, including hypodermic needles; syringes, with or without attached needle; scalpel blades; glass blood vials; suture needles; needles with attached tubing; glass culture dishes and pasteur pipettes, provided such glassware is known to have been in contact with an infectious agent; anaesthetic carpules used in dental offices; and unused, discarded hypodermic needles, suture needles, syringes and scalpel blades; and (14) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Legislative History

(P.A. 94-182, S. 2, 4; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-2, S. 65.) History: P.A. 94-182 effective July 1, 1994; (Revisor's note: In 1997 various misspellings of virus types listed in Subdiv. (11) were corrected editorially by the Revisors); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subdiv. (14), effective July 1, 2011; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-2 made a technical change in Subdiv. (13).