Posted on: Thursday, March 7, 2002

Cleanup crew being retested for mercury

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

State health officials are retesting 13 workers who were found to have elevated levels of mercury in their blood after participating last year in a cleanup at the Pu'uwai Momi public housing project.

But Bruce Anderson, director of the Health Department, stressed that the mercury levels were not out of the range considered normal otherwise for people who eat a lot of fish.

"We are going to be following up and retesting these individuals," Anderson said yesterday. "If there is any evidence that they were exposed in the workplace, we would pursue an investigation. We have no evidence of any adverse health effects among any of our staff."

The second round of tests should be completed in a week.