Used Needles Found Amid Beach Debris at Huntington

State workers cleaning up Huntington Beach on Thursday found several used hypodermic needles amid tons of other debris that washed ashore from the storm that rolled through the Southland this week.

Donald Ito, a state parks official, said that he is concerned about the discovery of more syringes after dozens were found three weeks ago deposited along a stretch of Bolsa Chica State Beach and Sunset Beach.

“We’re going to clean it up just like we did at Bolsa Chica,” Ito said, “by using a safety container. Then we’ll turn them over to a hospital, if one is identified [as the source], or to the county health department.”

Efren Benites, a state maintenance worker, said that he found the needles near the south end of Huntington State Beach, by the mouth of the Santa Ana River.

Lawrence Honeybourne, a spokesman for the county Health Care Agency, said that the county has turned over the dozens of syringes found three weeks ago to the district attorney’s environmental crimes unit for further investigation.

The storm earlier this week washed piles of trash down the Santa Ana and San Gabriel rivers and other waterways. But county officials could not determine whether the new batch of needles came down a river or may have been illegally dumped at sea by a boat.

Because only a few needles were found Thursday, Ito said, the beach will remain open until further notice.

“The public should be aware that at any time after a storm we do get strange objects washed on the beach like that,” Ito said. “People should wear shoes and watch where they step so as not to get injured.”

Also at Huntington Beach, several gas-mask filters in military canisters with the words “Dangerous Poison” on them were examined by inspectors from the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station on Thursday.

The unopened canisters are not hazardous and did not pose a threat to public safety, said Steven Reuter, a Huntington Beach marine safety officer.