Title 33, Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-102
§2501 Findings
Title 33 › CHAPTER 38 — DUMPING OF MEDICAL WASTE BY PUBLIC VESSELS › § 2501
Summary
Operators of U.S. public vessels must stop dumping potentially infectious medical waste into the ocean right away. When that waste washes ashore, it can threaten people’s health and harm coastal towns. Current federal law does not give enough protection against these ocean disposals.
Full Legal Text
Title 33, §2501
Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Congress finds the following:
(1)The washing ashore of potentially infectious medical wastes from public vessels of the United States may pose serious and widespread risks to public health and to the welfare of coastal communities.
(2)Current Federal law provides inadequate protections against the disposal of such wastes from such vessels into ocean waters.
(3)Operators of such vessels must take immediate action to stop disposing of such wastes into ocean waters.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Short Title
Pub. L. 100–688, title III, § 3101, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4152, provided that: “This subtitle [subtitle A (§§ 3101–3105) of title III of Pub. L. 100–688, enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘United States Public Vessel Medical Waste Anti-Dumping Act of 1988’.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 2501
Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102