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Anthrax: Postal Officials Hid Contamination, Watchdog Group Says By Mike Nartker In a Dec. 6 complaint to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Judicial Watch alleged that the Postal Service knew by Oct. 18 last year that the Brentwood Road postal facility had become contaminated with anthrax. Officials even knew specifically which mail-sorting machine had handled the contaminated letter, according to the complaint. Despite written emergency regulations for the Postal Service, however, officials waited to close the facility until four days later, when the anthrax-related deaths of two Brentwood employees were announced, Judicial Watch said in a press statement. The delay was caused, in part, by the Postal Service’s desire to avoid an estimated cost of $500,000 per day to close the facility, according to Judicial Watch. As a result of the Postal Service’s delay, Brentwood employees were prevented from obtaining tests for anthrax exposure and preventive antibiotics in a timely manner, Judicial Watch said (see GSN, March 8). The group has called on federal prosecutors to investigate whether to charge postal officials with any crimes, possibly including involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. The organization has filed the complaint on behalf of hundreds of postal employees and a postal employee support group called Brentwood Exposed. Judicial Watch has based its complaint on documents obtained from the Postal Service through a court order, including a log kept by a senior Brentwood official, according to the Judicial Watch statement. “The criminal act of terrorism perpetrated by a still unidentified person or persons, by the transmission of anthrax pathogen through the U.S. mail, has been exponentially compounded by crimes of commission and omission at Brentwood by [the U.S. Postal Service] and/or U.S. government officials,” Judicial Watch said in the complaint. The Postal Service considers the allegations to be “without merit,” a spokeswoman said, according to an Associated Press report Saturday. Judicial Watch has also filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for an investigation into whether the Postal Service’s actions violated the civil rights of Brentwood employees, the Judicial Watch said in the press statement. While the Postal Service delayed action at Brentwood, where employees are 97 percent African-American, the predominately white staff members in the offices of Senators Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), which also received anthrax-tainted letters, received more timely care, Judicial Watch alleged. For further information, see: GSN Anthrax Attack Chronology (Dec. 12, 2001) Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax
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