ARMSTRONG (AP) — More than a dozen people, including four children, are being watched for symptoms of mercury poisoning after they were exposed in the north-central Iowa town of Armstrong.
Emmet County emergency manager Terry Reekers said Tuesday that the mercury exposure happened after a construction worker remodeling a house found a plastic bottle with about 40 pounds of liquid mercury in the basement on Friday.
The worker may face criminal charges for illegally transporting hazardous materials if law enforcement officials decide to prosecute him for taking the mercury to a bar to show friends and taking it back to the construction site. The Environmental Protection Agency says high levels of mercury exposure can lead to kidney damage, respiratory failure and death.
Someone at the bar dropped the bottle and spilled nearly half of the mercury. About 10 to 12 people were exposed to it when the owner tried to clean up the spill with a vacuum cleaner and broom.
Reekers said that after leaving the bar, the worker took the remaining mercury back to the house and hid the bottle in a sandbox where four children under the age of 10 later found it.
An EPA hazardous materials team will clean up the mercury in both locations, and was due to arrive Tuesday afternoon. It’s expected to take two or three days cleaning up the mercury.