School quarantined over mercury contamination fears

A school in California was put under quarantine after reports that it could be contaminated with mercury.

The King Middle School, located in San Bernardino County, was quarantined as all 950 pupils were checked for mercury poisoning, reported the Press Enterprise.

Contamination was suspected after the 14-year-old son of a family living nearby took the substance into school with him after finding it in the neighbourhood.

Many of the Hepler family's possessions –including their washer and dryer – were, as a result, declared to be contaminated by inspectors from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

San Bernardino city deputy fire chief Mat Fratus explained: "All the children were evaluated and other than the child that brought it to school, none had indications that they had been exposed."

Before he was elected at the new American president last month, a bill pushed by senator Barack Obama to ban the export of mercury from the US was passed into law in October.