Anthrax:  Daschle Receives Suspected Hoax Letter

A letter believed to be an anthrax hoax was discovered yesterday at the Capitol Hill office of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), according to the New York Times.

The letter contained a threatening note and white powder, the Times reported.  Initial field tests conducted on the powder showed that it was harmless, said U.S. Capitol Police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols.  He added that the substance would still be unknown until the results of further laboratory testing.  It was also not known whether the powder was once dangerous before being irradiated, Nichols said.  All mail sent to Congress is irradiated and screened before being delivered.

The envelope of the letter had a London postmark and appeared to be a hoax, said an FBI spokesman.  Yesterday’s letter did not resemble the four letters previously found to have contained anthrax, the FBI spokesman said (David Stout, New York Times, Jan. 4). 

Daschle said the letter looked to be “a copycat mailing,” similar to the anthrax-tainted letter mailed to his office last October (see GSN, Oct. 16).  “It said ‘this was anthrax, death to America,’ something to that effect, and ‘stop the bombing’ was the only phrase that was new,” Daschle said.

The powder was found in a separate packet, which could explain why it was not found by congressional mail screeners, who cut the corners off envelopes to search for suspicious substances, Daschle said.  “The early test showed in this case that it was not anthrax,” he said.  “We took this white powder very seriously.  There was a note inside that basically said this was anthrax” (Associated Press/New York Times, Jan. 4).

Senate Staff Hope to Return to Offices

U.S. Senate staff members are wary, but hopeful, they can soon return to the Hart Senate Office Building, the site of Daschle’s regular suite of offices, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 2).  “We won’t believe we’re going into the Hart building until they unlock the doors,” said David DiMartino, spokesman for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

Daschle had previously said that the chlorine dioxide fumigation process used to decontaminate the Hart building of anthrax was “very effective” in killing any remaining spores.  He also had said there was a “reasonable possibility” that the building could be reopened as soon as next week.

The Hart building, however, would not reopen next week because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first needs to review test results as they become available, said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Bonnie Piper.  The building’s fire alarms, elevators and other systems also need to be tested before it can reopen, said Bruce Milhans, spokesman for the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (Amy Fagan, Washington Times, Jan. 4).

Experts Discuss Profile

Various experts have begun to speculate on a profile of who may be behind the anthrax attacks, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 14).  The person responsible may be American, someone who worked in the military’s biological weapons programs and someone who only wanted to scare, rather than kill, people, according to the Times.

“I think there are on the order of 100 people who could have done it, who have the access to the spores and the technical expertise to have done it,” said one source familiar with the military’s biodefense program.  “I’ve got to admit that I could be a suspect.  I’ve been interviewed by the FBI.”

Experts have said whoever is responsible may be connected to the military because the anthrax used in the attacks is genetically identical to spores kept by the U.S. army, the Times reported.  The person also indicated a knowledge of forensics, since neither the flap of the envelope nor the stamp had been licked, which would have left behind DNA evidence.

The person likely did not want to kill anyone, since the envelopes were tightly sealed and it was unknown, at the time of the attacks, that spores could leak through the envelopes, according to the Times.  Each letter also had a warning that the powder was anthrax.

“I don’t think that he was trying to kill anybody,” said Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, a microbiologist at New York State University and the author of a paper examining the available evidence in the anthrax investigation.  “I think the motive was to create public fear, to raise the profile of biological warfare” (Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times, Jan. 4). 

Click here to read Rosenberg’s paper.

New York Postal Workers Reject Vaccine

New York postal worker union officials yesterday advised their members to not take the vaccine being offered as an anthrax post-exposure treatment, according to the Washington Post.

Instead, union officials want the Morgan mail processing center in Manhattan cleaned of any potential anthrax contamination.  “We don’t want a vaccine.  We want the building clean,” said William Smith, president of the New York Metro Area Postal Union.  “CDC doctors claim they know what they’re doing.  But they’re guessing,” Smith said.

Today, lawyers representing the postal workers union are expected to go before a federal judge to get an order for the U.S. Postal Service to extensively test and clean the Morgan mail facility.  Mail sorting machines at Morgan tested positive for anthrax in October after processing tainted letters.  Last month, officials retested five sorting machines and one came back positive (Christine Haughney, Washington Post, Jan. 4).

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Anthrax:  Northern Arizona University Defends Investigation Role

Northern Arizona University President John Hager, in a letter to Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), yesterday defended the university’s decision to send anthrax spores to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Associated Press reported today.

Previously, Markey had questioned university officials about the security of anthrax shipments sent to Los Alamos, the AP reported (see GSN, Dec. 18).  Markey announced last month in a press release that a government laboratory had broken rules concerning biological warfare agents (Associated Press, Jan. 3).

Click here to read the Markey press release.

Hager said the university had “violated no laws or regulations” in handling the anthrax, the Arizona Republic reported.  He wrote to Markey that the university was under contract to help the FBI identify anthrax strains as part of the “Amerithrax” investigation and the school had sent the anthrax to Los Alamos after gaining certification from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I am happy to report that Northern Arizona University is in full compliance with all federal regulations,” Hager wrote.  “NAU has never shipped Bacillus anthracis to any non-authorized persons or institutions.  Any persons or organizations that state otherwise are incorrect” (Dennis Wagner, Arizona Republic, Jan. 3).

Hager’s letter “was a little premature,” said a Markey spokesman.  He added Markey’s office was waiting to issue further comment until the results of inquiries sent to Los Alamos and Health and Human Services departments were known (Mike Nartker, GSN, Jan. 3).

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Anthrax:  Hart Building May Finally Be Clean

The Hart Senate Office Building appears to be free of anthrax, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 18).  Meanwhile, few U.S. postal workers have chosen to undergo anthrax vaccination as a post-exposure treatment, according to reports (see GSN, Dec. 12).

EPA officials said that although they were waiting for confirmation from laboratory tests, preliminary data from monitoring equipment indicated that a second attempt to fumigate the Hart building with chlorine dioxide gas successfully killed remaining spores.

“We feel very comfortable that we had a very successful fumigation,” said Richard Rupert, the EPA on-site coordinator.  “We feel that based on the humidity numbers, the temperature and the concentration of chlorine dioxide, we were able to effectively destroy any anthrax spores.”

Officials are waiting for the results, which may be available later this week, of two types of tests, according to the Associated Press.  One test used more than 400 test strips laced with bacteria that is more resistant than anthrax to chlorine dioxide gas.  The strips were placed throughout the building and if the bacteria on them are found dead, it is likely that any remaining anthrax was killed as well.  Another round of tests will check samples taken by swabbing and vacuuming various surfaces in the building (Larry Margasak, Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 2). 

Vaccine Goes Unwanted

Only six Washington postal workers last week underwent anthrax vaccination as a post-exposure treatment, according to the Washington Times.  Hundreds were eligible, but most either refused treatment or were still making a decision.  “I don’t want to feel like a lab rat,” said letter carrier Bennie Barnett.  “They’re not sure what it’s going to do.”

“One of my co-workers got sick just from taking [anthrax antibiotics],” said letter carrier Robert Johnson.  “His face blew up.  He got red and got spots on his face.  No telling what that needle is going to do to you.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a team to Washington to inform postal workers about the vaccine and to administer inoculations if they were requested.  The CDC team plans to stay in Washington until Jan. 7, the Times reported.  Similar CDC teams traveled to Florida, New York and New Jersey.

To protect against any latent anthrax spores still in the body after their antibiotic regimens expire, postal workers are eligible to take either the vaccine or another round of antibiotics.  “CDC doesn’t recommend one over the other,” said CDC spokeswoman Sandra Smith.  “We want to offer people the choice.”

Smith said she was not surprised that so few eligible people decided to be inoculated.  “That’s to be expected,” Smith said.  “It’s a big decision.  People need some time to think about it” (Tom Ramstack, Washington Times, Dec. 28).

Utah May Recreate Oversight Panel

Utah Governor Mike Leavitt said he was open to the idea of recreating an oversight panel for the Dugway Proving Ground after reports that the U.S. Army facility produced small amounts of weaponized anthrax, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday (see GSN, Dec. 17).

In 1998, then-Governor Norm Bangerter and Representative Jim Hansen (R-Utah) created the Technical Review Committee for Dugway Testing to oversee the facility after the army planned to increase biological weapons defense testing, according to the Tribune.  “We were just trying to make sure the feds were dealing straight with us,” Bangerter said.  “We were always trying to know what was going on out there.”

Soon after the committee was created, the army stopped plans to build a Biosafety Level 4 facility at Dugway, which would have been capable of testing microbes for which there are no known treatments, the Tribune reported.  The committee also helped force Dugway to answer the Utah medical community’s questions about the lack of civilian preparedness in the event of an accident.

After the Gulf War in 1991, relations between Dugway and the committee became strained, as Dugway was less open with information, said Suzanne Winters, Gov. Leavitt’s former science adviser.

“If you didn’t ask exactly the right questions, you never got a straight answer,” Winters said.  “I never had the comfort level or communication level at Dugway that I developed over time at Tooele.”  Tooele is the Army’s chemical weapons incinerator south of Tooele, Utah.

Leavitt disbanded the committee on Winters’ advice, according to the Tribune. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, a microbiologist at New York State University, said Leavitt should form a new oversight committee for Dugway.  “There ought to be such a group and I would hope the governor would want to make it a permanent thing,” Rosenberg said.  “Secrecy is corrosive.  The more open [the army] can be, the better off they will be” (Brent Israelsen, Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 1). 

South Korea Military Will Stockpile Vaccine

The South Korean military has decided to buy enough anthrax vaccine to inoculate 10,000 soldiers, a military source told Yonhap last week.  “The forces’ main tasks has budgeted [$1.5 million] for purchasing the vaccines,” he said.  South Korean military leaders have also budgeted about $17 million for anti-chemical weapons measures to be implemented next year, the source said (Seoul Yonhap, Dec. 30, in FBIS-LAT, Dec. 30).

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