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Long Beach Island gives late word of waste wash-up
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Anne Leyden, of Cheltenham, Pa. talks about the medical waste she saw washed up on the beach Sunday in Barnegat Light. 'There was so much medical waste everywhere you couldn’t walk without stepping in it. There were just piles of it. I’m in the medical field. I know what this stuff is,” Leyden said.
Photo by: Ray Cembor
BARNEGAT LIGHT - A Long Beach Island health department official confirmed Wednesday that home medical waste, including 20 syringes, washed up along the island's beaches Sunday afternoon.
The debris was found along eight miles of beach, from Barnegat Light to Surf City.
Tim Hilferty, director of the Long Beach Island Health Department, said the department did not release information about the incident earlier because the waste was cleaned up by 8:30 a.m. Monday. No more waste has been found, Hilferty said.
Hilferty said distributing a public news release about the debris "didn't even cross my mind."
"I felt comfortable that there was no risk at all to the public," said Hilferty, who was notified about the debris at about 4 p.m. Sunday.
Although the slick of debris was 8 miles long, it was only 4 feet wide, according to Hilferty. He said the debris included wood, plastic, bottle caps, cell phone cases, ribbons, balloons and syringes.
But Anne Leyden, of Cheltenham, Pa., said those were not the only items she saw on the beach Sunday, and expressed concern about the public's safety.
Leyden said she was enjoying an afternoon at the Barnegat Light Bay Beach when she overheard chatter on the lifeguard's radio between 3 and 4 p.m.
"All of a sudden I heard the lifeguard's radio and they were saying they were ordering people out of the water because they found syringes. The lifeguard's reaction was, 'Oh my God,'" Leyden said.
Mike Courtney, of White Plains, N.Y., was at the beach Wednesday afternoon but said his family is hesitant to venture into the water again.
"My cousin saw syringes, urine bottles and a latex medical glove. They were definitely ordering people out of the water on Sunday. Our family is horrified and no one wants to go in the water," Courtney said.
Leyden said she and her husband took a walk at about 5 p.m. Sunday to inspect the beaches.
"There was so much medical waste everywhere you couldn't walk without stepping in it. There were just piles of it. I'm in the medical field. I know what this stuff is," said Leyden, who has worked as a surgical nurse. "I couldn't believe it was 5 o'clock and no one seemed to be doing anything."
By that time, Leyden said, beachgoers were back in the water.
Leyden said she saw syringes, catheters, butterfly catheters, medical tubing, blood test tubes, urine specimen bottles, condoms, fecal bags and hazardous waste bags.
Hilferty said Wednesday evening he could not confirm the presence of any of those items.
"I'm enraged that the public was not notified. This is so dangerous with all of the diseases we have now. It's not just dangerous for children, it's dangerous for senior citizens and adults," Leyden said.
Elaine Makatura, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the DEP was notified about the wash-up, which she said did not appear to be major.
"We don't notify the public or close beaches because it's up to the local health departments to do that. I don't know why the public wasn't notified," she said.
Barnegat Light Mayor Kirk Larson said he was notified about debris washing up but not medical waste. He said the important thing is that the response was swift and the beaches have been cleaned.
"We've only had three sunny days. What do you want me to do, close the beaches? I didn't get anything from the health department to close the beaches," Larson said.
Hilferty said flyovers and tests of ocean and bay beaches conducted by the DEP have shown the beaches and water to be satisfactory.
Hilferty said all medical waste has been forwarded to the DEP to attempt a serial number trace.
Posted in Ocean on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:20 pm Updated: 9:33 pm.
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