Biological Weapons

[Link, the Hero of Time]

some people just need to get their acts straight before america comes in, guns full ablaze

[Chief Engineer]

Allot of these "attacks" are by the same person so it could be a kind of Antarax Unibomber. Also explosives would not work real well because if you had the wrong mixture they would destroy all the bug so they probably won't use that.

[Theresa]

Some letters have a return address in NJ, and some from St. Petersburg FL. If you were going to send something like that through the mail, would you really put a return address on it? DUH

[Chief Engineer]

It wasn't a return address it was a postmark

[Theresa]

[Theresa]

A seven month old baby, now. And they still are "unsure" if it has anything to do w/ the Sept. 11th attacks. It seems pretty obvious, but I understand that they have to have proof.

[Theresa]

Senator Gets Anthrax Letter; More Cases Found
Child of ABC News Employee Infected in NYC

By Will Dunham
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Oct. 15) - The anthrax scare expanded on Monday as a powdery substance found in a letter sent to a top-ranking U.S. senator tested positive for the potentially deadly bacteria, while another employee at a Florida publishing firm and the baby son of an ABC News employee contracted the disease.

In two preliminary field tests, a letter sent to the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota came up positive for the bacteria that can be used as a biological warfare agent. A more definitive exam was being conducted at a U.S. Army facility.

As a precautionary measure, about 40 to 50 people, mostly staffers in the office along with some U.S. Capitol police and mail handlers, were treated with antibiotics and the senator's office was quarantined as the FBI and police investigated.

In New York, authorities said the 7-month-old son of an ABC freelance news producer had tested positive for skin anthrax. In Florida, a second employee at a company that publishes supermarket tabloid newspapers tested positive for the more-dangerous inhaled form of anthrax, state health officials said.

The scare over anthrax -- a potential agent in biological warfare -- spread to Canada's parliament and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's office in Berlin as well as to France, Switzerland, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand and Israel.

But the United States remained the only country where the bacteria was so far confirmed.

Law enforcement officials in the United States responded to various anthrax scares, including one affecting a leading U.S. abortion rights group.

Thus far, one man has died and three others have contracted forms of anthrax in recent weeks.

Daschle became the first top government official directly affected by the anthrax scare that has followed the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.

The letter was delivered to Daschle's personal office in a Senate office building close to the U.S. Capitol building.

''Everybody is fine,'' said Capitol Hill physician Dr. John Eisold, adding that all those treated were allowed to go home.

Daschle said, ''I'm concerned deeply for my staff. I feel so badly for each of them. They are innocent people caught up in a matter with which they had nothing to do. I am very disappointed and angered.''

BUSH CITES POSSIBLE LINK TO BIN LADEN

President George W. Bush said that ''there may be a possible link'' between this and other recent U.S. anthrax cases and Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks.

''We have no hard data yet but it is clear that Mr. bin Laden is an evil man,'' Bush said. ''I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have hard evidence yet.''

Public tours of Capitol Hill were canceled indefinitely and authorities directed congressional staffers not to open any mail before it has been screened.

The Florida Department of Health said Ernesto Blanco, 73, was infected with the inhaled form of anthrax, which earlier killed his colleague, Bob Stevens, a photo editor at the Sun, one of the tabloid newspapers published by Boca Raton-based American Media Inc.

Officials earlier said Blanco, a mail room employee for American Media who picked up the firm's mail at the post office, had been exposed to the disease but had not become ill. ''His condition is improving and the public health officials are encouraged by his progress,'' the department said in a statement.

Officials also said that a small amount of anthrax spores was found in the mail processing department at the post office that handles mail for American Media.

FULL RECOVERY SEEN FOR BABY BOY

In New York, officials said an ABC News employee's baby son -- under 1 year old -- had contracted the skin version of anthrax. His condition did not appear to be life-threatening.

''The baby has responded well to treatment and we are very hopeful the baby will make a full and complete recovery,'' New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told a news conference.

The infant had visited the ABC News offices on Sept. 28, officials said. Investigators said they did not know the source of the anthrax.

Authorities said they planned to search other major U.S. media outlets in New York. The ABC News incident followed one in which an anthrax-tainted letter was sent to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease spread by spores and generally confined to sheep, cattle, horses, goats and pigs. It can be deadly if it is inhaled or if it festers after infecting a person through his or her skin.

Medical authorities said those exposed to anthrax spores could be treated with antibiotics and likely would not get the disease, which is not contagious.

In Washington, Planned Parenthood Federation of America said some 90 of its clinics and offices in at least 13 states had received envelopes containing threatening letters and an unidentified powdery substance. Field tests on two of the letters found no evidence of anthrax.

Planned Parenthood said some of the letters included messages from a group called the Army of God, a militant anti-abortion group.

23:15 10-15-01

Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.

[Natira]

[Captian Janeway]

I know we should be no means "let our gaurd down." I am just saying I would be mildly supried if it was "bio terrorisim."

[Theresa]

[Theresa]

Congress is shutting down for 5 days. More in the governor of NY's office. I think they're spreading it around pretty fast.

[Captian Janeway]

I now belive it is terrorism. I have been watching the news and have heard more compelling info

[Theresa]

Ok, this crap is getting too close to home. They had to shut down a rest area yesterday because of this, and now there are police searching the woods on the side of the interstate. And a PCS went flying by w/ his lights on, and a few minutes after that, an ambulance. PLEASE pray I am over reacting.

[Lindley]

I agree. A few of days ago, there was something on the news about the police not letting anyone out of their homes due to white powder, only a few blocks from me.

Nothing's come of it, though, so I assume it was nothing....I hope, anyway...

[Captian Janeway]

yes I hope so too