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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: Jill who wrote (7139)	10/24/2001 11:51:32 AM
From: RocketMan	Read Replies (2) of 281500

This was bad politics and bad science. Anthrax requires biosafety level 2 containment, and it was ludicrous for anyone to think that a standard mailing envelope would offer protection against its dispersal. Even before tests were concluded on the spore size, officials were saying there was only a cutaneous hazard, and the DC postal workers were not even tested. Now they are saying that perhaps the letter processing machines may have dispersed the dust. While this is true, the fact is that a 1 micron particle may go right through the paper envelope's fibers, which is why sophisticated filters must be used when handling those materials. On the number of spores needed to cause inhalation anthrax, I've seen reports as high as 40,000. The figure of 8-10,000 is based on an Army study, but I've not found the reference. It may have been the monkey experiments they did at Ft Dietrick many years ago, or perhaps the 1979 accident at Sverdlovsk. I would like to know how that estimate came about. With only one case of human inhalational anthrax in the US in the last quarter century, I would say any estimates are just that.

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