Word: anthrax
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...tool of destruction, the smallpox virus is ideal. Simply exposing people to the bug in its natural state, without significantly manipulating or processing it, is sufficient to seed an epidemic. Unlike anthrax, smallpox is highly contagious (just one infected person could cause the virus to radiate from a family to a neighborhood to a city in a matter of months), and smallpox cannot be treated effectively once symptoms begin (30% of those infected will die). The vaccine is 100% effective, but only in protecting against the disease before exposure. Although studies show that inoculation can prevent infection if given...
While most of the nation was nervously following news of the mounting anthrax cases last week, some law-enforcement officials were equally disturbed by a less publicized crime in New Jersey. Authorities issued a national alert Wednesday morning after they learned that a tractor-trailer carrying what they thought might be hazardous materials had been stolen from Rockland Corp., a distributor of fertilizer and pesticides. Officials were relieved Friday when they found the truck's trailer, which contained 5 tons of lawn fertilizer. Rockland disclosed that the fertilizer in the truck was not the kind rich in ammonium nitrate, which...
...technical answer is that the threat is still considered to be remote; there is no hard evidence that any terrorist group, including bin Laden's, has a finished nuclear weapon in its arsenal. But not long ago, anthrax seemed a distant threat. And it is possible for the bad guys to assemble an atom bomb with contraband uranium and off-the-shelf parts. "It's not particularly probable, but it's possible,'" says Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The difficulty is that we are dealing with a wide range...
...luxury of time disappeared in the flames over New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania. The FBI was called upon to simultaneously investigate the four hijackings and track down leads that could fend off any future attack. That was enough to stretch the bureau to its limits. But then came anthrax and the new responsibility of finding out who sent the contaminated letters and where they got the bacteria. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was furious at the FBI field office last week because it did not inform him for nearly a week after it learned about a suspicious letter received...
...They've got two or three agents here," he says. "I've got 160 cops. These terrorists live, eat, drive in our communities. The people most likely to have run into them are local police--at a traffic stop or because of domestic violence. We had a couple of anthrax scares over the weekend, but again, [the FBI is] not sharing anything...