BEACH JAB THREAT GOES UP IN SMOKE

THE bulb of blood forming on the tip of his finger was all the
evidence Dick Gross needed to show that Elwood beach should have a
needle incinerator.

The Port Phillip Mayor was unveiling the latest weapon in the fight to
rid St Kilda's beaches of used syringes when he pricked his finger --
exactly the type of injury the presence of the incinerator is designed
to prevent.

The hypodermic needle incinerator, the first of its kind to be used in
Victoria, was donated to the Elwood Life Saving Club yesterday by SHG
Medical Australia, a NSW medical supply firm.

Low-voltage electrical currents burn the needle at l700 deg., reducing
it to ashes and ultimately making the process of syringe disposal safer.

The heat blast also kills any bacteria or viruses still living in the
needle, eliminating the risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C from a
discarded syringe.

The incinerator is child-proof, and takes just a couple of seconds to
do its job.

Cr Gross said Elwood Life Saving Club would try the incinerator before
he would consider installing them in other beaches in the area.

"It's a question of cost. It has to be evaluated to see whether it
goes in absolutely every toilet block in our city,94 he said.

The incinerator is considered a safer, cheaper alternative to the
sharps bins now used by Port Philip Council.

At least five sharps bins are required to dispose of 500 needles, the
equivalent of just one replaceable cartridge in the new incinerator.