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Anthrax: U.S. Media Outlets, Embassy, Receive Potential Hoaxes Employees at two U.S. media outlets in New York, ABC News and the Manhattan offices of ESPN, have received potential anthrax hoax letters, according to reports today (see GSN, Oct. 18, 2002). An ABC News employee is currently undergoing treatment after opening an envelope that contained a suspicious white powder, according to sources. “It has not been confirmed it was anything definite,” an ABC staff member said yesterday (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, Feb. 11). An ESPN marketing executive received a threatening letter containing a white powder yesterday, according to the New York Post. The handwritten letter, which criticized an ESPN advertisement and was mailed from New York, contained a note saying, “Just dance,” police said (Larry Celona, New York Post, Feb. 11). The executive was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, but displayed no symptoms of illness, police said. Samples recovered from the letter have been sent to the New York municipal health department for further analysis, according to the New York Daily News. Sources said, however, that the letter appeared to be a hoax (New York Daily News, Feb. 11). U.S. Embassy Scare Meanwhile, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Brunei opened what was later revealed to be an anthrax hoax letter, officials said today. Chief of Mission Robert Pons discovered Sunday an envelope marked “Anthrax” and containing a white powder inside a second envelope, according to Agence France-Presse. The powder was later determined to be harmless. Whoever sent the hoax “made it clear that he wanted us to believe the white powder contained anthrax,” said U.S. Ambassador Gene Christy, according to the Borneo Bulletin (Agence France-Presse/The Straits Times, Feb. 11). For further information, see: CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax GSN Anthrax Attack Chronology (Dec. 12, 2001)
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