A LLANELLI mum was horrified to see a dirty drug needle on the beach where her children were playing.
Leanne Daniel feared the worst when she spotted it half buried in sand at Cefn Sidan, Pembrey, near her two barefoot daughters, aged two and five.
Now she wants to warn other families to take extra care, though the authorities who run the beach have stressed it was a very rare occurrence.
"I'm sure it was a one-off incident but the first thing we thought was that there were loads of kids on the beach that day — parents need to be aware," said Mrs Daniel, of Halfway.
"We want to teach our kids about the danger of drugs but we never expected to have to teach them this early."
The mum had taken her ten-year-old sister and her two children out for the day at Pembrey's Cefn Sidan beach on Sunday when the incident happened.
The day ended in a dash to Prince Philip Hospital to determine whether the children had stood on the needle and potentially contracted any illnesses.
Mrs Daniel, of Glyncoed Terrace, said: "The children were having a great time, running around in the sand and burying each other with it. It was only when I got up and sat down in a different spot that I noticed the needle lying next to me.
"My heart stopped — the worse thing was, my two-year-old Macey had a cut on her foot — I completely panicked, I was so upset.
"The needle looked as though it had been stood on, so we were really worried about it."
She took the children straight to hospital to be checked over. "Thankfully all was OK — but it put me off taking them to the beach again," said Mrs Daniel.
A Carmarthenshire Council spokesman played down the incident.
He said: "We have been told the old syringe found by the children had its needle bent into a U-shape and had probably been sterilised by the sea.
"It carried no infections, we and the family have been assured. The family were advised to seek medical attention as a precaution.
"Cefn Sidan ships vast tonnages of jetsam and flotsam over its tidal range weekly and the eight-mile tide line is checked by rangers on a daily basis.
"Syringes, both agricultural and pharmaceutical, occasionally are found along our coast by rangers or members of the public. This is only the second such find reported or recorded in 12 months on Cefn Sidan. We understand the youngest child of the family concerned had an irritation to the feet but no puncture wound was found by hospital staff.
"It is possible the irritation to the feet was caused by the prickly saltwort which is starting its season bloom in the dune slack and was found by rangers in the area where the family collected the syringe."
chantelle.rees@swwmedia.co.uk
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