Mercury found in subway, courthouse

Mercury found in subway, courthouse
Isolated incidents investigated because of lethal potential

The discovery of what appeared to be mercury in a package of ground beef from a military base store in Florida is just the latest incident where the metal has appeared in unlikely places – and could have caused serious injury, according to reports.

Instances of mercury mysteriously appearing in a subway entrance, a restaurant, a public courthouse and a sidewalk also have been reported in recent months. While no serious injuries have been reported, officials remain wary because of the health threat.

WND reported this week about the substance apparently showing up in a package of ground beef purchased by a Green Beret at a military supply store at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida, and the military investigation that has been launched into that incident.

But another investigation was launched in Mount Gilead, Ohio, where authorities reported that mercury had been spilled inside the public areas of a courthouse.

The incident happened just days ago, and workers found the spill in the hallways of the Morrow County Courthouse. Officials said the building was evacuated without injury.

But Sheriff Steven Brenneman reported that an investigation showed the spill probably was intentional. The poisonous metal was found spilled throughout the first and second floors.

Authorities said they are reviewing a surveillance tape, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is assisting with the investigation.

When the mercury was reported, six of 78 people in the building had to go through a decontamination process, the sheriff reported.

Then just a few weeks earlier, a spill was found in the restroom of a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

Customers and workers at the North Side Rooster's Restaurant and Bar were tested for mercury poisoning after the problem was revealed.

Authorities are reporting it was found in a men's room toilet and when workers tried to remove it using a Shop-Vac the several pounds of metal splattered on the floor and was tracked around the building.

Police also were investigating that incident of contamination.

Several spills have been reported in various schools in recent months, too, but those are more common because mercury is present in most science labs. However, even in those cases, many times a building is evacuated for a day while the spill is removed, officials said.

In New Brighton, Minn., St. John the Baptist school recently was closed for a week because of a spill.

Principal Sue Clausen reported a school worker found a box of equipment in a garage, and a teacher gave instructions to get rid of it. The box contained a vial of mercury, which then spilled in a cafeteria, hallway and science lab. Students then tracked it around the building.

Early in 2007, the FBI launched an investigation into why a suspect dumped about five ounces of mercury on a Los Angeles subway platform. Authorities said they had taken a suspect into custody.

A former FBI official said it needs an explanation.

"I'm not saying that … these people are terrorists, but there's some very strange activity that needs to be identified here," he said.

There also was a spill of mercury on a road near Killingly, Conn., that required crews to scrape an area estimated at about 40 feet by 12 feet to remove the contamination, officials said.

In Yakima, Wash., mercury also was found in the yard and on the sidewalk in front of a home, and a 16-year-old living there was treated for mercury poisoning.

In the most recent case, military officials began looking into the discovery of what appeared to be mercury in food prepared with ground beef purchased at the Homestead base store.

"What troops consume is very important," Judd Anstey, a spokesman for the Army Air Force Exchange Service, told WND. "Our office is investigating as well as the vendor."

"We're certainly all very concerned about what this customer believes he found," added Anstey, whose AAFES organization runs many of the military stores providing staples to service members.

The report comes from Pat Heminger, a former Green Beret with 23 years in the U.S. Army.

A WND reader had looked into the situation, and said, "The crux of this issue is the purposeful poisoning of foodstuffs distributed by a military commissary and the only question at this point is whether this represents the first attack on the food supply that deliberately targeted military personnel and their families."

Anstey said the preliminary portions of the investigation show there were 72 other pound packages of ground beef prepared at the store that same day, and there have been no other complaints.

He also said the investigation has revealed – so far – no explanation for the presence of a metal such as mercury in the food.

Medical sources say mercury can be ingested or its vapors can be inhaled. It is liquid at room temperature, and inside the body, can damage the brain, the kidneys or an unborn baby.

"The nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury," said one government report. "Exposure can cause tremors, memory loss and changes in personality, vision and hearing."

"Children … are especially sensitive to the harmful effects of mercury on the nervous system," it said.