Oregon Waste Facility Burned Fetal Tissue for Electricity
Published at
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MARION COUNTY, Ore.) — A municipal waste plant in Marion County, Oregon, has been instructed to stop taking medical waste after it was reported that aborted fetuses from a Canadian business may have been included in shipments.
The order came down from Commissioners Janet Carlson and Sam Brentano, who said they were horrified upon learning that fetal tissue from British Columbia had been sent to the facility owned by Covanta Marion, Inc.
Both Carlson and Brentano are against abortion.
The plant in question burns 550 tons of municipal waste daily, generating about $4 million a year in electricity for Marion County.
It was also discovered Washington state may have been providing medical waste containing fetal tissue.
Brentano says that although what the plant has been doing for years is legal, it’s “ethically, all wrong. Not anything we’re going to support here in Marion County.”
In the meantime, all contracts with waste facilities will be revised and suppliers must guarantee that none of their shipment will contain fetal material.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio