Posted on 06/28/2018 12:48:22 PM PDT by Gamecock
An Austrian woman contaminated a sewerage treatment plant with high levels of mercury after traveling to India and bringing back a cream billed as a healing ointment that was loaded with the toxic heavy metal, local authorities announced on Wednesday.
Routine monitoring at a sewerage treatment plant in Upper Austria revealed alarmingly high levels of mercury earlier this year. Workers then started to trace the source of the mercury, which was almost double the allowed limit.
The Department of Water Management first inspected sewer lines from industrial and commercial enterprises in the Vöcklabruck district as well as dental practices but did not find any contaminations.
Workers tipped of by tealights and a shrine
Using a portable mercury detector, they eventually traced the contamination back to a private residence, 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) away.
The person living in the apartment told workers she had recently visited a wellness center in India where she was given a curative cream and powder to bring home.
Tests revealed the cream contained 32 percent sulfur and 27 percent mercury. The powder contained 36 percent mercury, 20 percent copper and 3.8 percent sulfur.
Free daily tabloid Heute reported the 50-year-old woman was suffering from cancer and bought back 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of the remedies from a monastery. The paper reported she was now also suffering from serious mercury poisoning.
Public broadcaster ORF reported that workers were tipped off by the presence of tealights and a kind of Indian prayer shrine in the woman's apartment. About 4 kilograms of pure mercury reportedly reached the sewer system over several months.
Mercury is an extremely toxic metal that can cause damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs. It can be absorbed through the skin, through vapor or through ingestion.
Undergoing treatment
Workers destroyed the toxic remedies and helped decontaminate the apartment over the course of a week. The woman is now undergoing medical treatment.
The sewer system between her apartment and the treatment plant are also being decontaminated.
The presence of mercury in waste treatment plants is particularly concerning if the waste is processed into fertilizer for use on crops.
The state water department cited the case as an example of highly effective management, but it also warned people to be careful about the products they buy overseas.
"This shows how well our environmental control functions and how quickly and efficiently we work in an emergency. This prevented an environmental disaster," department director Ulrike Jäger-Urban said in a statement.
Heute reported that the incident cost €100,000 ($122,000).
I want to point out the very detailed and crisp reporting in this article. All the basic questions of journalism (why, how, when, what, etc.) are answered clearly. There is assignable cause, and a satisfactory closure. All US based news sites should learn from this DW article on how to conduct basic reporting.
If one woman’s ointment can contaminate a whole water system, just think what all the drugs flowing into our water systems are doing.
Even if you don’t take drugs yourself, you’re getting it in the water.
American press:
WHO? TRUMP
WHAT? TRUMP
WHERE? TRUMP
WHEN? TRUMP
HOW? TRUMP
WHY? TRUMP.........................
Yeah. India. Definitely scratched off my bucket list.
Apparently not one of the more healthy medical tourism destinations.
What does a pig put on his skin to feel better?
Oinkment.
What else did she import into country?
But I don’t understand how the presence of tealights and a Buddha shrine could tip off the police to someone using mercury
“...but it also warned people to be careful about the products they buy overseas.”
Speaking of overseas products. A few years ago, yellow jackets had set up a huge nest in a drop cloth I had neglected to put away. The bug spray I used hardly touched them, so I picked up a different brand at the local HW store.
It was from Taiwan and had a crude drawing of a hornet on its back with an X over each eye. I think the name of the product was “HOT!” Anyway , I sprayed once into a group that was flying around, and BAM! Knocked them right out of the air. Killed the whole nest with just a few more sprays.
The ingredients weren’t listed, at least in English. It was all Chinese lettering except for the “HOT!”
Many years later, I feel fine.
About 35 years ago I got some hornet spray that killed any wasps or hornets immediately on contact. I wouldn’t be afraid to go to a hornets nest with that stuff because it was amazing. They just froze in place. You can’t find it now though.
The article says that the workers were tipped off by these items once they traced back the mercury to her apartment (I assume the apartment building).
As to how these could tip off the workers, I think they used what is known as "The Exception Principle" which is an analytical or deductive tool used by investigators to find clues to an incident. The idea is to zero in first on something that deviates from the norm (or expectations), and obviously the tea-lights and Buddha shrine are unusual and exceptional in Austria.
The article never really explained that. I thought they were using a little more scientific method ie tracing the mercury through the sewer pipes.
What really amazed me is the quantity of "healing" cream and powder she brought back. How could any person need that much product for any treatment and how is it that she could bring 10 kilos of these mystery substances through customs?
But those items, per the article were inside the apartment
The test the sewer lines. When the line comes up clean, they know they passed it and can narrow it down. Same thing here for chemical dumping.
Yes, I understood that.
Sounds like fake news. It’s only on one website and sewers don’t lead to the water supply.
Otherwise every isis-wannabe yokel would be poisoning entire cities by flushing poison
What amazes me is how many people go to third-world countries and actually buy, use, or even believe some concocted remedy from there will heal all their ills. It's a third-world country for goodness sake, and India to boot. They don't even have proper sanitation yet she thought a bunch of cream and powder from there would give her a cure?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.