AP News, May 4th, 2007
Glass vials of toxic agents once used in chemical warfare training may have been taken home as souvenirs from a popular crystal-hunting area, federal officials warned Thursday.
Authorities have found 130 of the vials at the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, as well as incendiary devices that may have been intended to destroy these chemicals, U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Victoria Fox said.
A vial that came from what were known as chemical agent identification sets sickened a Boy Scout digging for crystals last week, Fox said.
"They have a potential to create an extreme irritation to your skin, your face, your eyes," she said.
The agency urged anyone who may have collected the vials or explosives to call police.
"Having these items places you, your family and your neighbors at risk," the agency said in a news release.
The military was dispatched to the refuge in northern Oklahoma last week after the Boy Scout accidentally broke one of the buried vials, exposing him to a yellowish liquid inside. The boy started coughing and the material made his eyes burn and his nose run, but he has suffered no lingering ill effects, officials said.
The vials contained diluted solutions of toxic chemicals including mustard gas, phosgene and cyanogen chloride, according to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency.
Fox said officials do not know where the material came from or how long it has been in the ground. Between 1942 and 1946, the area was used as a practice bombing range by U.S. aviators.
Fox said the crystal-digging area has been closed since the first vial was found.
The wildlife refuge is home to thousands of ducks, geese and birds.
