Illegal medical waste dumped in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that a Pennsylvania dentist has been charged with
dumping needles and other medical-type waste that
washed up on a beach during the last week of August.
According to Milgram, Thomas McFarland was charged
with unlawful discharge of a pollutant and unlawful
disposal of regulated medical waste. McFarland allegedly
took his small motor boat into Townsend Inlet on
August 22 and dumped a bag of waste from his dental
The charges conclude an investigation conducted
by the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Bureau,
the Avalon Police Department and the Cape May County
Beginning on August 23, waste allegedly dumped by
McFarland was found washed up along a one-mile stretch
of beach, including Accuject dental-type needles,
cotton swabs, a number of blue and white plastic
capsules used to hold filling material, and other
As investigators from the participating agencies,
led by the Environmental Crimes Bureau, worked to
trace the dental waste using lot numbers on the
needles, the Attorney General offered a $10,000
reward for information leading to the arrest of
the person responsible.
Certain information that the investigators obtained
in the first days of the investigation pointed them
to a small number of dental practices as potential
sources of the waste, including McFarland’s practice.
On September 2, McFarland went to the Avalon Police
Department and admitted dumping the dental waste.
The third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence
of 5 years in prison and fines of up to $50,000
on the medical waste charge and $75,000 on the other