Poisoned water raises long term health fears
Tasmanian health officials want more testing of residents of a small north-east town, where the water supply has been tainted with high levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead.
All children at Royal George have been tested for lead exposure but the State Government wants adults to volunteer for blood testing.
The council has been supplying tank water to the town since concerns were raised in July about heavy metal in samples from the St Paul's River.
The pollution is believed to come from a nearby tin mine, which stopped production in 1928.
Public Health officer Chrissie Pickin says the test results will be notified to local doctors in 2 to 3 weeks.
"It is important from a public health perspective that we do more to determine whether residents have any ongoing health issues as a result of any long-term exposure to heavy metal runoff from the old tailings," Dr Pickin said.