Needle Source May Never Be Known
The origin of hundreds of needles that washed ashore along Huntington Beach last week is still being sought, Orange County’s top health officer said Monday.
Dr. Hildy Meyers said an environmental health investigator on her staff had spoken with dental companies and determined that the two-pronged hypodermics were of the type used to administer anesthesia.
The needles are often recapped on one side while dentists wait to see if more of the drug needs to be administered to the same patient.
The needles found in the surf Thursday were capped on one side.
Meyers said that tracing the needles’ origin would be difficult because identifying information would have been discarded when the packets were opened.
The Orange County district attorney’s office and the health care agency are involved in the investigation.
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