In the mid-1990s, there were approximately 5,000 medical waste incinerators in the country. This number has declined to fewer than 100. "Most hospitals have opted to hire contractors to put syringes, blood products, IV bags, body parts, and other waste in landfills," writes author Michael Hawthorne. The decline is due in part because the recognition that "When the chlorinated plastics used to manufacture many medical products are burned, the process releases dioxins -- a chemical byproduct so toxic the U.S. EPA has concluded there is no safe level of exposure," explains Hawthorne. In addition, incinerators also release mercury, a toxic metal that can cause irreversible brain damage, and cadmium, which can damage lungs and kidneys. Ignoring the demands of their governor, "four Illinois hospitals are refusing to shut down their medical waste incinerators unless taxpayers shell out more than $5 million." They want to continue operating until 2017 in order to recoup their investment of recently installed pollution scrubbers.