Word: anthrax
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FEAR FACTOR If you're alarmed about anthrax and bioterrorism--and who isn't, these days?--you might want to take a moment to visit our UnHysterical Guide to Staying Safe, a commonsense listing of risks and how to be prepared for them. time.com/unhysterical
...first time I was made aware of this oddity in the American makeup. All other countries and cultures have been given good reason to know and show fear. But until lately, historically blessed America has sauntered about fear free. Now, as of last week, another case of anthrax was discovered, affecting a staff member of NBC News, and one was told that the FBI had "certain information...not specific to target" that more terrorist attacks are imminent...
...there's anything even halfway reassuring about the anthrax scare, it's that tiny doses sent through the mail can cause only isolated outbreaks. Bioterrorism experts agree that the kind of catastrophic damage haunting our collective psyche requires the resources and weaponry of a sovereign state. Which is why Iraq, the Middle East's dormant volcano, suddenly appears to be smoking at the summit...
Casting a cold eye on Iraq, which experts believe has stockpiled as much anthrax as any other nation on Earth--except possibly Russia--is not merely an automatic response to threatening times. Intelligence reports indicate that an Iraqi agent has met with an associate of Osama bin Laden. Also, Mohamed Atta, the Sept. 11 hijacker, reportedly had a June 2000 encounter with an Iraqi operative in Prague. There is as yet no evidence linking Iraq to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, but with four verified exposures to anthrax in the U.S. and a highly unstable situation...
...agents--were unaccounted for, as well as an estimated several hundred metric tons of the raw materials required to make sarin and mustard gas. After years of denying that it even had a biological-weapons program, Iraq admitted in 1995 that it had produced 8,500 liters of concentrated anthrax and 19,000 liters of undiluted botulinum toxin. UNSCOM destroyed most of those supplies, but officials believe that Iraq hid four times as much anthrax and twice as much botulinum as was discovered. Iraq still has the best biological expertise in the region--thanks in part to the efforts...