Official: Mercury worries overblown

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

A Clark County School District official in charge of science in the schools said there is no need for a "knee-jerk" reaction to change curriculum on how mercury safety is taught locally.

Loretta Asay, coordinator of science for K-12 for Clark County Schools, said two highly publicized incidents of mercury contamination in four months does not mean that children overall do not know the dangers of the toxic chemical.

To the contrary, she said, students begin learning about the "properties" of mercury and other dangerous elements in the eighth grade and most know to stay away from it if they see it. Plus, mercury is not sold in stores, and it is "really difficult" for a teenage student to obtain it, she said.

The latest incident occurred Tuesday at the Eagle Crest Apartments, 5900 Sky Point Drive, near Ann Road and Tenaya Way, when two adults and their four children had to be treated at a local hospital after the mother found the children playing with the substance.

The other case was the Jan. 10 contamination of a home in the 1400 block of Saylor Way near Vegas Drive and Jones Boulevard that cost EPA officials $175,000 and resulted in a 17-year-old boy and his dog suffering mercury poisioning.

"Incidents such as these serve as excellent opportunities for teachable moments, where such current events make students sit up and listen when teachers bring the subjects up for discussion," Asay said. "I see that as a positive thing.

"I don't believe a knee-jerk reaction is needed by trying to create some rule for this. The bottom line is that whether it is mercury in schools or a weapon, we want to keep kids safe, and I believe we do" have enough rules and instruction in place to address mercury safety.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Clark County Health District continued today their investigations into the mercury spill at the northwest Las Vegas apartment that potentially contaminated a bus stop and a science room at the The Lied school near Decatur Boulevard and West Ann Road.

Health District Environmental Health Supervisor Daniel Maxson said city workers cleaned up the school bus stop and the cracks of the small amount of mercury and it no longer poses any health threat.

County health workers and the EPA cleaned up the "slightly high level" at the Lied science lab and gave it clearance to open, Maxson said. Clark County School District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen said the lab will reopen today. The school remained open while the lab was closed Wednesday.

Mark Merchant, spokesman for the EPA in San Francisco, said the owner of the Eagle Crest Apartments was reached in New York and has agreed to hire an environmental engineering company to clean up the apartment at no cost to taxpayers. The EPA will monitor the results of that operation, Merchant said.

The reason the Saylor Way house was cleaned up with federal dollars was because it posed a potential public health threat and the owner could not afford to immediately hire a company to clean the spill, Merchant said.

Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found practically everywhere in small, nondangerous amounts. However it can be deadly when concentrated and released in a confined area or if fumes are inhaled over a prolonged period in a closed space.

In both cases, children found the mercury in the belongings of an adult relative and opened the bottles apparently without the adults' knowledge or permission and played with the silvery, oozing, beading contents.

Authorities say the best way of keeping mercury out of the hands of curious children is to safely dispose of it.

Dave Tonelli, spokesman for the Clark County Health District said mercury and other unnecessary chemicals found around the home can be brought to Republic Disposal's household hazardous waste collection site at 333 W. Gowan Road Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.