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Anthrax I: Suspect Maryland Ponds Remain Open While FBI Considers New SearchesBy Greg Webb Authorities first searched the ponds in December 2002 as part of the FBI’s Amerithrax investigation into the anthrax attacks. The forest is less than five miles from the U.S. biological defense laboratory at Ft. Detrick, Md., and near the former home of Steven Hatfill, whom U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has identified as a “person of interest” in the case. The winter searches reportedly uncovered some discarded laboratory equipment, including what could be a glovebox, a tool to work on dangerous materials while preventing their release. The Washington Post reported nearly two weeks ago that the FBI had notified local officials that it would begin draining one pond by June 1, but an FBI spokeswoman told GSN that investigators have not decided whether to proceed. “We have acknowledged that that is under consideration, and no decision has been made,” said Debra Weierman of the FBI Washington field office. Two visits by GSN to the ponds in the past week showed that they are unguarded and that there are no access restrictions. Allowing a public notification of where a future search may be conducted is highly unusual, according to former federal prosecutor Judson Lobdell. In a trial, evidence found in such a search would face great scrutiny, he said. “The fact that the government told everyone well in advance where it was going to be looking would give a very strong argument to the defense that this evidence ought to be entirely discounted,” said Lobdell, now in private practice in San Francisco. “Our firm handled a case here in which a similar defense was successful, a criminal case in which some evidence was found in a trash can near where the defendant resided. But there was public access to that trash receptacle for quite a long time and the argument was made before the jury, and successfully, that it proved nothing that there was some evidence in that trash can. It could have been put there by anybody,” he said. Now that the search location has been revealed, Lobdell said, any evidence found in the future would be of limited value at trial unless linked directly to a suspect by physical evidence, such as fingerprints. The advance notification of the search undermines any argument that evidence recovered from the pond must have been dumped there by Hatfill because it is close to his former home, he said. Calling the FBI strategy “a little peculiar,” Georgetown University law professor Paul Tague said that as long as any discoveries were firmly linked to an individual suspect, the ponds’ public accessibility would not undermine the value of the evidence. However, the delay in searching for the evidence could “lead jurors to question the probative worth of the evidence.” “You almost infer that they don’t think there’s much to be found. Otherwise, I would have thought they would have searched all of these ponds” by now, Tague said. Questioning the FBI’s motives in making the advance search notification, Tague said, “Maybe they’re trying to reassure us that they’re doing more work, but at the same time a statement like this strikes one as peculiar because it doesn’t exactly allay my concerns. … Somebody could go and plant stuff or withdraw stuff in some unprotected or unsupervised place.” The FBI’s Weierman refused to describe the investigators’ strategy for this case or in general. “Each case is a different case,” she said, “so for me to go and say ‘Well, somebody’s going to go and disrupt or impinge upon our case,’ I’m not going to say that. I can’t give you a blanket statement because you can’t give a blanket statement when each and every case has its own personality.”
From May 23, 2003 issue.Anthrax II: Palestinian Authority Says Arafat Targeted by Anthrax LetterAnthrax has been found in a letter received three weeks ago by the office of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, top Palestinian security official Hani al-Hassan told the Arabic newspaper al-Hayat in remarks published today. “The presidential security services submitted the letter to control measures, as usual, before opening it and discovered that it contained powder. ... At first, we did not know what the nature of the powder was, and some time passed before we could analyze it in a safe place,” said al-Hassan, who noted that the analysis indicated the presence of anthrax. Al-Hassan described the incident as an assassination attempt, calling it the 14th attempt on the president’s life. “The stamps on the letter showed that it came from an Asian country,” said al-Hassan, adding that mail sent to the Palestinian territories always passes through Israel first and that the Palestinian Authority was “unable to investigate the original source of the letter because of the situation in which it [the authority] finds itself.” Al-Hassan’s comments came in reply to a question about whether he takes seriously the words of “certain Israeli officials who have spoken of assassinating or isolating Arafat” in the wake of last weekend’s wave of suicide attacks against Israelis (Agence France-Presse/Voila, May 23, GSN translation).
From May 23, 2003 issue.U.S. Response: House Government Reform Panel Approves Bioshield BillBy Juliana Gruenwald CongressDaily WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Government Reform Committee approved legislation yesterday that would provide the government with additional tools to spur the development of vaccines and other measures to protect the United States from a bioterrorist attack (see GSN, May 16). With little debate, the committee approved the “Bioshield” bill after adopting a substitute version of the measure offered by Government Reform Chairman Davis. Only two members were present for the bill’s markup: Representative Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). In highlighting the need for the legislation, supporters point to the fall of 2001 when letters laced with anthrax were sent to some members of Congress and media outlets. “The death toll could have been higher if there had not been effective countermeasures to treat that particular form of anthrax,” Souder said. “Unfortunately, there has been little progress in treatments for other deadly diseases like smallpox, Ebola and the bubonic plague, which affect few, if any, Americans.” Souder added that private companies have little interest in developing treatments for such diseases because there is little market for such products. To address this problem, the bill would provide the Health and Human Services secretary with “flexible” tools to sponsor research and development projects aimed at combating bioterrorism and would authorize funding for the purchase of vaccines and other measures developed from such research. It also would authorize the secretary in emergencies to allow for the use of drugs and other products aimed at combating bioterrorist attacks before the FDA has approved such products. Among the key changes included in the substitute amendment, which was approved by voice vote, are provisions that would allow the simplified research and development procedures to be used only when the HHS secretary determines there is a “pressing” need for them. It also would provide interested parties with a limited right to appeal contracting decisions made by the secretary.
From May 23, 2003 issue.Smallpox: Former U.S. Health Official Says Heart Problems UnexpectedMore than 50 U.S. smallpox vaccine recipients have suffered from heart inflammation, and a former U.S. health official said the immunization program’s planners did not see the side effect coming, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today (see GSN, May 21). During routine smallpox vaccinations in the 1950s and 1960s, technology was not sufficiently advanced to detect the inflammation, according to Michael Lane, the former chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s smallpox eradication program. “I think we just missed these before,” Lane said. “We just didn’t have the technology to find them,” he added. The civilian vaccination program has immunized 36,600 volunteers, and the U.S. Defense Department has immunized 430,000 military personnel, the Journal-Constitution reported. The CDC has reported heart inflammation in 24 civilians and the military said that 27 personnel have experienced the problems (David Wahlberg, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 23).
From May 21, 2003 issue.Iraq: U.S. Analysts Conclude Iraqi Trailers Were Definitely Intended for Biological WeaponsU.S. analysts have determined that two trailers recovered in Iraq were designed to be mobile biological weapons laboratories, but the experts found no traces of biological agents within the trailers or evidence that they ever produced such agents, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, May 14). Intelligence analysts working in the United States and Baghdad reached their conclusions after analyzing — and later dismissing — alternative theories as to how the trailers could have been used, senior Bush administration officials said. The findings were presented to the White House yesterday. “The experts who have crawled over this again and again can come up with no other plausible legitimate use,” a senior U.S. official said. In their paper, the analysts described the trailers as an “ingeniously simple, self-contained bioprocessing system,” an official said. The paper rejected alternative theories for the trailers’ intended use, such as producing hydrogen gas for weather balloons, germs for agricultural biopesticides, or regenerated rocket fuel, according to the Times. The trailer that was analyzed in greatest detail was thoroughly cleaned with an unidentified caustic agent, making it impossible to determine whether or not it had ever produced biological agents, officials in Iraq and the United States said. “It may have, we don’t know,” a senior Bush administration official said. “What we know is that it is equipped to do that,” the official added. Regardless of whether they were actually used to produce biological weapons, the trailers violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, a senior Bush administration official said. “It was surely capable of producing biological weapons agent,” the senior administration official said. “Iraq never told the United Nations that it had made such units. Why would you have a covert program for filling weather balloons?” the official added (Miller/Broad, New York Times, May 21).
From May 21, 2003 issue.Smallpox: Study Shows Vaccine Offers Longtime Residual ProtectionAs many as 150 million Americans could still be partially protected by smallpox immunizations they received decades ago, according to a preliminary study released yesterday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Washington (see GSN, May 12). As the federal government attempts to inoculate health care workers across the country to prepare for the possibility of smallpox bioterrorism, up to 150 million U.S. residents may already have some degree of immunity, USA Today reported. More than 90 percent of people aged 36 to 96 have been vaccinated at least once. Antibodies were present in 90 percent of the 306 people tested in the study, according to researcher Mark Slifka of the Oregon Health and Science University. The level of antibodies was fairly consistent in the subjects, whose vaccinations span as far back as 1928. However, the study showed that the level of white blood cells, also known as T-cells, declined over time. Both antibodies and T-cells are needed for full protection. Eight to 15 years after immunizations the level of white blood cells dropped by half, Slifka said, but “if you begin with very high T-cell levels that could still be a large number.” Slifka said people who have received the vaccination twice show greater immunity, but additional innoculations appear to provide no further protection (Anita Manning, USA Today, May 21).
From May 21, 2003 issue.Anthrax: Pentagon Personnel, U.S. Soldiers Try to End Mandatory VaccinationsThe U.S. Defense Department must stop inoculating soldiers with the anthrax vaccine because it is still in an “investigational” stage and is being used without approval, according to attorneys for six U.S. military officers and Pentagon personnel said yesterday (see GSN, March 26). The six are asking a U.S. District Court to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the Pentagon from administering the anthrax vaccine unless the recipients are informed of the potential side-effects and give consent, or if the president issued a waiver. Such regulations are necessary for drugs still under investigation, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. “In some cases, they’re not even told it’s going to be an anthrax vaccination,” said John Michels Jr., an attorney for the plaintiffs. Attorneys for the two defendants in the case — the Pentagon and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — have said the anthrax vaccine has been an accepted preventive measure for years. The Pentagon does concede, though, that severe harmful reactions develop in approximately one in 100,000 vaccinations, the Washington Times reported. At least 600,000 employees in the Defense Department have received the vaccination, and officials say they plan to immunize each of the 2.4 million members of the military. “There are risks with all vaccines, your honor,” said Ronald Wiltsie, a Justice Department attorney who is representing the defendants. “The risks here are no greater than a tetanus shot or MMR [measles, mumps, rubella],” he said (Patrick Badgley, Washington Times, May 8).
From May 20, 2003 issue.Anthrax I: Some Post Offices Need Retesting, Scientists SayU.S. postal facilities that have been tested for anthrax using dry cotton swabs should be retested because that method is unreliable, scientists told a House subcommittee yesterday (see GSN, April 22). The postal facilities that should be retested are “those facilities deemed free of anthrax based on a single dry swab,” said Keith Rhodes, chief technologist for the General Accounting Office’s Center for Technology and Engineering. Rhodes and other officials testified before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations (Associated Press/New York Times, May 20).
From May 20, 2003 issue.Anthrax II: Genetic Engineering Could Create Improved Weapons, Scientist SaysGenetic engineering could help create biological agents that could evade the human immune system, a biological defense researcher said yesterday (see GSN, May 1). There have already been several cases where dangerous microbes had been accidentally produced through genetic engineering of viruses and vaccines, said University of Darmstadt professor Kathryn Nixdorff. For example, Russian researchers were able to create a strain of the anthrax bacterium that could resist the current anthrax vaccine when both were administered to hamsters. There are several ways microorganisms could be genetically modified to be better weapons, such as by enhancing their resistance to antibiotics or increasing their lethality, according to Nixdorff. She discounted claims, however, that the human genome sequence could be used to help develop a biological weapon capable of targeting a specific racial or ethnic group (see GSN, May 21, 2002). “At present this seems unlikely for several reasons. It has been pointed out in several reports that races do not exist from a genetic perspective; there is generally more genetic variation within groups than between groups,” Nixdorff said. “Indeed, it has been suggested that a re-examination of the race concept is due,” she said (David Hearst, London Guardian, May 20).
From May 19, 2003 issue.International Response: WHO to Consider Improved RegulationsWorld Health Organization officials are expected today to begin discussing new powers to combat international epidemics that could be caused by bioterrorism. The agency is scheduled to begin its 10-day annual meeting today in Geneva (see GSN, Oct. 22, 2001). The World Health Assembly is expected to consider revisions to WHO guidelines that would require members to report a much larger number of diseases than currently required, according to the Washington Post. The revisions would also give the organization the authority to respond even when members will not admit they are facing a health crisis. “These are major changes in the way WHO works,” said David Heymann, executive director of WHO’s communicable diseases program. “The way we work now is passive. This would now be active,” he said. The disease outbreaks that nations must currently report — cholera, yellow fever and plague — “with the possible exception of cholera, are not really what you’re worried about anymore,” Kimball said. “If you leave a body of internationally agreed regulations that limited, it becomes irrelevant,” he said. The proposed revisions would create a new, more general requirement that countries report any “public health emergency of international concern,” according to the Post. The Bush administration was reviewing its position on the proposed revisions late last week and has not made its position public. The White House is concerned that the proposals “not go too far,” said Health and Human Services Department spokesman William Pierce. “You want to be very clear about what you should do in these cases, but at the same time you don’t want to create undue panic or take undue actions,” Pierce said (Rob Stein, Washington Post, May 18). The World Health Assembly meeting is also expected to include discussion on the eradication of smallpox virus stockpiles, according to a WHO release (see GSN, Nov. 6, 2002; World Health Organization release, Feb. 27).
From May 19, 2003 issue.Anthrax: Hatfill Conversation Led to Pond Search, Sources SayThe FBI’s recently reported discovery of discarded laboratory equipment in a pond near Frederick, Md., was prompted by a tip from an acquaintance of former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill, who has long been the public focus of the bureau’s investigation into the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, Newsweek reported today (see GSN, May 12). In December 2002 and January of this year, the FBI conducted two searches of a section of forest outside Frederick, using divers to investigate a set of ponds in the area. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that, during those searches, divers recovered a clear box with holes that could accommodate gloves, as well as vials wrapped in plastic, from one of the ponds. FBI agents searched the pond after an interview with the Hatfill acquaintance, who told them about a conversation he had with Hatfill, according to Newsweek. The acquaintance told the agents that Hatfill, who had been questioning the theory that whoever produced the anthrax used in the attacks would need access to sophisticated equipment, said the anthrax could have been made in the woods and the evidence could be tossed “in a lake,” Newsweek reported. The discovery of the box led to some FBI agents developing a theory that whoever was responsible for the anthrax attacks submerged the box into the pond to work with anthrax spores without fear of self-infection. Other law-enforcement officials, however, have dismissed such a theory. “It got a lot of giggles,” an FBI source said. The FBI tested the box for anthrax and initially received a positive result, according to Newsweek. Further testing, however, has come back negative. The bureau now plans to drain the pond in an attempt to find more evidence, such as a wet suit that might have been used and discarded by the person responsible for the attacks, Newsweek reported (Newsweek/MSNBC.com, May 19).
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