Information Related to "Pathogens, Poisons and Other Weapons of Terror"
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Just as the United
States was recovering from the Sept. 11 attack, a wave of envelopes containing
anthrax spread through its mail system—conjuring fears of even direr prospects
for the future.
by Tom Robinson
Thousands of hoaxes and false alarms followed. But more actual incidents cropped up too, several from people having been exposed to the pathogen in the offices of the U.S. Senate. Traces of anthrax were found in a facility that handled mail for the White House.
Eyes immediately turned to the terrorists. A few weeks earlier Americans had learned that individuals involved in the Sept. 11 attack had made inquiries into the use of crop-duster airplanes, possibly for disseminating biological or chemical agents. Though the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded crop dusters, officials assured the public that adapting their sprayers to disperse bioweapons is nearly impossible and that spreading chemicals with them would have little or no impact because of their low quantity if delivered in that manner.
Nevertheless government officials say biological and chemical warfare is on the terrorists' agenda. Newsweek reports: "What we know for sure is that terrorists are experimenting with chemical and biological weapons. Operatives of (Osama) bin Laden's Qaeda network have tried ... to obtain anthrax and botulinum toxin in Czechoslovakia, an FBI official tells Newsweek. Dozens of rabbits and dogs have been found fatally poisoned near bin Laden's Jalalabad training camps, accordin to a foreign intelligence agency ...
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