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Emergency Crews Inadvertently Spread Anthrax Beyond Capitol Hill During 2001 Mail Attacks
Anthrax contamination from the October 2001 mail attacks appears to have been spread farther than was previously reported, Roll Call reported yesterday (see GSN, March 4). A June 4 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that U.S. Capitol Police might have inadvertently spread the bacteria beyond the Hart Senate Office Building while responding to the attacks. “Off-site contamination by equipment and clothing occurred when members of the U.S. Capitol Police Hazardous Device Unit who had responded to the letter returned to their office,” the CDC report states. “Environmental sampling located contamination in vehicles and office-space surfaces where equipment was handled,” it adds. The department initially allowed officers to enter and exit affected areas at the Hart building without being decontaminated, one officer said (Keller/Yachnin, Roll Call, June 28). Meanwhile, the central mail distribution center on Brentwood Road in Washington, the site of anthrax contaminations that resulted in the deaths of two postal workers, is “operating back to normal,” a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman said Friday, according to the Washington Times. The facility reopened in December after being cleaned and was renamed in honor of the two dead employees — Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. (Guy Taylor, Washington Times, June 28).
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