DioxinOut to help or to hurt?Imagine building a life in a neighborhood that has everything to offer: a playground for children, a daycare, an elementary school, a hospital and friendly people. Everything seems perfect until you discover that the hospital, known for helping people overcome illness and other ailments, is in turn the cause of some of these health problems. This neighborhood is no longer so ideal. You start to wonder if there's something you could have done, something you should have known, but you just don't have the answers. You are not alone. Thousands of people are constantly informed about the effects of dioxin in their neighborhoods, and everyone can do something about it. To begin, identifying the source of the problem is essential. In this case, dioxin is released into the air, water and soil from a hospital incinerator. However, this is not just an argument for the environment, it is also a question of morality. It is up to people to act and fight for their right to a clean and safe environment. The Cortland Memorial Hospital incinerator is a major producer of dioxin in the Cortland area, as are all hospital incinerators around the world (Gibbs 53). The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that about 53 percent of all dioxins are due to medical waste burned in hospital incinerators, and that most of these dioxins are unnecessary (55). Through much research and investigation, it has been discovered that much of this dioxin comes from the improper disposal of ALL hospital waste. Pam Jenkins, a former advocate for stopping the amount of dioxin released into the air by Cortland Hospital, shared with us some of her information on disposing of the waste once it has been generated by the hospital. She informed us that materials and products that may be sent to the landfill are actually burned directly in the hospital's incinerator. Burning materials such as hospital sheets, IV bags, food waste, metals, plastics and other hazardous materials in the incinerator affects the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital as the smoke carries toxins and deposits them everywhere. How is dioxin created in these incinerators and how does it affect the citizens of the community?