FILE This image released by US Department of Defense
official web site, Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program, shows Bacillus anthrax
spores (AFP Photo/)
FILE - This Jan. 27, 2010, file photo, shows the main gate
at Dugway Proving Ground military base, about 85 miles southwest Salt Lake
City, Utah. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is
investigating what the Pentagon called an inadvertent shipment of live anthrax
spores to government and commercial laboratories in as many as nine states, as
well as one overseas, that expected to receive dead spores. A Pentagon
spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said the suspected live anthrax samples were
shipped from Dugway Proving Ground, an Army facility, using a commercial
delivery service. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart, File)
Washington, DC (AFP)
A US Army lab sent a live sample of anthrax to Canada by
mistake and may have sent the deadly bacteria to the Pentagon's police force as
well, officials said Tuesday.
The latest discoveries raised fresh questions about the
Defense Department's handling of the lethal material and the extent of the
problem involving mistaken shipments of anthrax.
As a spate of embarrassing details emerged over the past
week, defense officials acknowledged it was unclear how many government or
commercial labs could have received the vials.
"We can confirm that yesterday we determined that we
had shipped anthrax to Canada," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren
said.
The sample came from a larger batch or "master
sample" that tested as "live," he said.
The live anthrax sample was sent to a lab in Alberta
province, a defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The material had been irradiated at the US Army's Dugway
Proving Ground in Utah, but for some reason the bacteria was not rendered
inactive as intended.
Authorities also are testing anthrax samples from the Utah
lab that were sent to the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, which guards the
Defense Department, officials said.
The samples, which were supposed to be inactive, were to be
used to help test gear designed to detect biological or chemical agents.
Officials said the samples are being tested in a laboratory
near the main Pentagon building just outside Washington, which serves as the
headquarters for the US military.
The Pentagon has already admitted to blunders that include
live anthrax spores being shipped to laboratories across the United States as
well as to Australia and South Korea.
Two other batches of live anthrax have been found at Dugway
Proving Ground.
Samples from that material have been transported to at least
28 labs in at least 12 US states. And officials said that the number is likely
to go up as an internal inquiry progresses.
As a precaution, 27 people were receiving preventative
medical treatment, including 22 military and civilian personnel at Osan Air
Base in South Korea.
But US officials said there was no threat posed to public
health and no suspected cases of infection. And the vials sent out with samples
contained such small amounts of anthrax bacteria that even if ingested, it
would not prove lethal, officials said.
- Pentagon investigation -
Last week, the Pentagon announced a 30-day investigation to
get to the root of the problem and to examine protocols at all military labs
handling anthrax. The probe is being led by Frank Kendall, undersecretary of
defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
The inquiry will look at whether the irradiation process
used to inactivate anthrax bacteria was inherently flawed or whether human
error was to blame.
If a technical glitch is the cause, then other army labs
could be implicated and the scope of the problem would extend beyond the Dugway
Proving Ground facility.
The lab in Utah routinely transfers "dead" anthrax
samples for scientific research and the lab had been working on a project to
detect biological threats in the field.
As a precaution, the Defense Department has stopped anthrax
shipments pending the investigation.
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and other lawmakers
have expressed outrage at the revelations about the mistaken shipments.
In a letter to Pentagon chief Ashton Carter and Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention head Thomas Frieden, Mikulski said she had
"serious concerns about how such a potentially catastrophic mistake could
have been made."
Microscopic anthrax spores can be released without being
detected and can be placed in powders or food.
In 2001, powdered anthrax spores were found in letters
mailed in the United States. Out of 22 people who were infected, five died.
Anthrax spores are deadly unless a patient is promptly
treated with large doses of antibiotics.
All the above clearly shows what we already knew or should have known about many of the military's characteristics: lack of accountability, incompetence, lack of supervision, escalating costs. Just look what happened with Petraous: he gave top secret information to his f..ing buddy and he got away with minimal punishment. That pretty much sums it up.
Source: AFP