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Anthrax: Threats Sent to Abortion Clinics A new wave of suspicious powder and anthrax threats arrived yesterday at U.S. abortion clinics via Federal Express, according to reports. Meanwhile, the investigation into the recent anthrax incidents has come under criticism, the New York Times reported. Letters containing white powder and threatening notes were shipped to abortion clinics in Philadelphia, Washington, New York state, Ohio, Florida and Michigan by FedEx, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Preliminary tests on one letter found no trace of anthrax, said FedEx spokeswoman Sally Davenport. For the first time, abortion rights organizations, such as Catholics for a Free Choice, were also targeted, the Inquirer reported. The “Virginia Dare Cell,” of the domestic terrorist group the Army of God (see GSN, Oct. 29), signed the notes. Similar threats mailed to abortion clinics last month were signed “Virginia Dare Chapter,” instead of “Virginia Dare Cell,” said Ann Glazier, Planned Parenthood Federation’s security director. “The word ‘cell’ is new,” Glazier said. “I’d say it’s a blatant attempt to convey that they are terrorists.” The letters were sent using the FedEx billing account number for Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, which were falsely listed as the senders, according to the Inquirer. FedEx is working with the FBI to determine who was responsible, Davenport said (Marie McCullough, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 9). Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt said she sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General John Ashcroft and Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge asking that they meet with leaders of organizations representing abortion providers. “One of the most important things in stopping terrorism is for leaders to stand up and stand together and say ‘we will not tolerate this,’” Feldt said (Rita Rubin, USA Today, Nov. 9). Anthrax Investigation Criticized The FBI’s initial unfamiliarity with anthrax contributed to errors in their investigation, government officials, scientists, and investigators said. “It’s just unrealistic to ask 7,000 agents to overnight become sufficiently knowledgeable about bioterrorist agents and possible means of theft of those items and how they might be disseminated lethally to an American populace” said Bill Tobin, who worked in the FBI chemical laboratory. FBI officials said they had relied on outside experts for advice on anthrax, but that the investigation was following a logical strategy (see GSN, Nov. 7). Soon after the first reported cases of anthrax, the FBI said it had no objections to the destruction of anthrax samples at Iowa State University, according to the New York Times. Scientists involved in the investigation, however, said that the university collection might have contained important genetic clues. A precise match between the anthrax used in the recent incidents and a specific strain in the Iowa State collection might have provided information as to when the bacteria had been isolated and how widely it had been distributed to researchers, according to the Times. “If those cultures were still alive,” said Martin Hugh-Jones, an anthrax expert at Louisiana State University, they could have helped in “clearing up the muddy history.” Another flaw seen in the investigation is that few visits have been made to companies, laboratories and academic institutions with the capability to make the kind of potent anthrax mailed in the letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the Times reported. When investigators have conducted interviews, only general questions are often asked, several laboratory directors said. In New Jersey, where the anthrax-tainted letters are believed to have originated, investigators asked Waksman Institute of Microbiology Director Joachim Messing only a few general questions about growing bacteria and did not mention specifically what kind of information they wanted, according to the Times. Messing said he felt obligated to volunteer that his laboratory did not handle anthrax. “I couldn’t give you a clue what they were after,” Messing said. “I asked the person from the FBI if he knows anything about bacteria, some very simple questions, and it was very clear that he didn’t have the background to make evaluations.” FBI officials also appeared unaware of ChemShow, an international chemical and pharmaceutical convention that was held last month in New York, according to the Times. Hundreds of chemical and pharmaceutical equipment manufacturers, engineers and technicians attended the show. “If [investigators] weren’t crawling around that show, they should have been, said Richard Barbini, a chemical engineer and salesman for Arde Barinco Inc. “There’s all kinds of people there from many different companies, a lot of people who know a lot” about how to make anthrax. The FBI and other sections of the Justice Department would be reformed to better prevent terrorist attacks in a plan announced yesterday by Attorney General John Ashcroft (New York Times, Nov. 9) First Anthrax Death in Medical Journal The letter sent to Bob Stevens, the Florida man who was the first to die from anthrax (see GSN, Oct. 5), was likely mailed within a few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Stevens became infected with anthrax Sept. 19, according to the doctors who treated him. He had “closely examined a suspicious letter containing powder” that day, coworkers at American Media Inc. said and the Journal reported. Stevens became ill around Sep. 27 and died Oct. 5, according to USA Today. The incubation period—the time between Steven’s exposure and the onset of his illness—is “highly plausible” when compared with earlier anthrax research, said Larry Bush, one of the author’s of the Journal article (Parker/Sternberg, USA Today, Nov. 9). Click here to read the article in the Journal. About 32,000 people are taking antibiotics in wake of the recent anthrax incidents, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Of those, 5,000 are on the full 60-day treatment. A recent study has shown only 20 percent of people on Cipro, a common anthrax antibiotic, have reported minor side effects. The Food and Drug Administration planned to contact all 32,000 people on antibiotics to count incidents of side effects and to make sure there are no relapses after ending treatment, according to the Associated Press. New guidelines report that finding traces of anthrax spores on surfaces does not warrant closing buildings or prescribing antibiotics, medical authorities said (Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 9). Postal Service Developments The Bellmawr postal facility in New Jersey was ordered to reopen last night (see GSN, Nov. 8) by a federal judge, according to CNN. The facility had been closed twice over disputes between management and postal workers over anthrax decontamination. Management of the facility and local postal worker union officials worked out an agreement under which the facility would open, contingent upon “systematic anthrax testing” to be conducted through February 2002, U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle said. “We are very pleased with the mutual agreement and look forward to working with union officials,” said Postal Service spokesman Paul Smith (CNN.com, Nov. 8). Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress yesterday for $5 billion to help improve mail safety (see GSN, Oct. 31). “We urge Congress to recognize that emergency funding is required as part of the effort in defending homeland security,” Potter said. “Users of the mail should not be burdened with these extra costs through the price of the postage.” Between $3 billion and $4 billion will be spent on security efforts, such as cleaning postal facilities and buying equipment to sanitize mail, according to Potter. Already, the Postal Service has cut more than 11 million hours from employees’ shifts to ease costs, Potter said. Without the funding, further job cuts and higher postal rates could jeopardize the Postal Service’s future, he said. Some members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government, which oversees the Postal Service, seemed open to Potter’s request, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “A direct appropriation to the Postal Service would be extremely unusual, but these are unusual times,” Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said. “I don’t know that there is much enthusiasm for bailing out, quote unquote, the Postal Service,” however, Majority Leader Daschle said yesterday. “They have their ways of addressing their need for resources, and they ought to use them” (Kim/Hopgood, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 9).
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