Workers who have been made sick on the job want to know why Teck Cominco didn't tell them about the presence of thallium at their work site.

Dozens of workers who had been doing maintenance work at a lead smelter in Trail, B.C., were taken to hospitals on the weekend for tests.

Many have been made sick already, and they are all wondering about their long-term prognosis.

Late Monday, the company admitted it didn't inform the contract workers about the thallium.

"It's a terrible situation. I feel sick about it," said Bill Van Beek, general manager of the smelter. "It's there, and we've got to ... look after the workers."

In early August, when the carpenters and welders began feeling flu-like symptoms, Teck Cominco and the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia told them the work site wasn't to blame.

But when the symptoms persisted, tests were done for thallium, a rare but deadly metal that is a regular byproduct of lead smelting. Thallium was used in rat poisons until it was banned in the 1970s.

Many of the 65 men had levels up to 20 times the acceptable limits in their urine samples.

Since it can be absorbed through the skin, the workers say if they had known it was present, they would have taken better precautions. As it was, all they had were gas masks to keep them from inhaling the dust.

The workers, the WCB, and the public health officer all want to know why the company didn't tell them about the thallium.