Johnson City officials are attempting to track radioactive medical waste that found its way into one of the village's garbage trucks.

The material that set off radiation sensors at the Broome County Landfill on Wednesday is likely Iodine 131, used to treat thyroid conditions and other illnesses, said Johnson City Mayor Harry G. Lewis. An official from the state Department of Health made that assessment after using an instrument to measure the radiation coming from the garbage truck that carried the waste to the county's landfill in the Town of Nanticoke, which is not licensed to handle radioactive waste.

But officials will not be sure of the source or exact nature of the material until the Broome County Hazardous Material team sorts through the truck's contents and isolates the problem. That procedure is scheduled for early today, Lewis said.

"My concern at this point is to pinpoint where it came from," Lewis said. "This will happen again, sure enough, with more people getting more home treatment" for various illnesses.

Officials from the state Health Department did not return calls Thursday afternoon. But Lewis said they assessed the contamination was from a patient who had undergone treatment with the iodine. "It could be a napkin, a tissue or a diaper - that sort of thing," Lewis said.

Iodine 131 comes in pill and liquid form and is used to treat thyroid conditions, including cancer, said Jeffery K. Davis, director of community relations for Lourdes Hospital.

He could not speculate on the contents of the garbage

truck at the landfill. But he did offer a scenario in which iodine could be passed through the urine of a discharged patient onto a diaper, tissue or undergarment, which in turn could end up in the trash.

The truck remained isolated at the landfill Thursday. The level of radiation directly next to the truck on Thursday was less than a chest X-ray and posed no public health threat, said Robert Denz, environmental health director for the Broome County Health Department. Nonetheless, officials were taking precautions.

Stacey Crescente, a spokeswoman for Broome County Executive Jeff Kraham, confirmed that the county's hazardous material team would be assisting Johnson City workers in the investigation. The material loses its radioactivity over time. The strategy is to find the source of the problem, encapsulate it and let it sit for a few months until it is no longer radioactive, she said.

Village workers familiar with the route should be able to track the material to the approximate area where it was picked up, based on where it is in the truck, Lewis said.

Anybody with information should call Lewis' office at 798-7861 or village public works at 797-3031.