Stardate 20011013.1045 (On Screen): You know, as a
weapon, a letter contaminated with anthrax spores is absurdly inefficient. Strictly speaking, if whoever had sent the letter in Florida had wanted to create more dead bodies, a letter bomb would have been more effective. But as an instrument of
terror it was brilliantly conceived. Now anyone who has an envelope, a piece of paper and a box of corn starch can scare the wits out of anyone they don't like. The lone case of anthrax in NYC wasn't caused by a letter; it was tested and came up negative. And given that her case is sub-cutaneous, it's rather hard to see how it could have been the result of criminal action. So for the moment, the only confirmed criminal use of anthrax spores we know of is the one in Florida, which definitely was contaminated and definitely did infect three people (and kill one of them). But you're getting reports now of those kinds of letters arriving all over the place, and every time it happens, someone totally freaks out. While I don't want anyone else to die of anthrax, I think it might be useful if reporters would stop reporting "potential cases"; how about only reporting them after they've actually been confirmed by lab tests? Let's not give headlines to every creep who puts some talcum powder in an envelope, OK?
(discussion in progress)Update: It turns out that there were two suspicious letters sent to NBC, and the other one has tested positive for anthrax. None of which changes what I said.
Update: A suspicious letter in Nevada now seems to have tested positive.
