Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar, she adds.

We've always had to deal with garbage in the mail: broken blood vials, dead laboratory birds, live chickens.

"I think that we can assume that, if we're picking up syringes and blood vials, that's definitely medical waste," he said.

This woman," she said, talking of a blood vial that contained a readable name, "had blood taken from two different doctors.

Reports of hypodermic needles and blood vials washing ashore generated hysteria.

In fact, numbers, not names, are attached to the blood vials, and all trace of the donors is lost.

The blood vial was safe, but that, too, went into another container.

Ukiah pressed the empty blood vials on him.

"I wouldn't want my kid finding a blood vial on the beach," he said.

And the presence of syringes and blood vials, Federal officials said, is always cause for concern.