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I often wondered why they destroyed all of the samples and not just what had been stolen, but they may not have known what was stolen, maybe multiples. Easier to get rid of it all.

At the time, they said that there was no overall inventory, so they wouldn't know if something was missing (whew, sloppy!). Are you disputing that?

Do you have the documentation of the paraformaldehyde usage in grams online somewhere I could see it?

The EPA was a telephone conversation and I'll think of her name in the middle of the night. I'm sure her number is in my note somewhere. She told me there were different places that were approved for treatment, one used.....grams and the other......grams. So there were two places that had some contamination.

I remember driving by the USDA facility which was actually on my way home, north of the main campus, by the railroad tracks out by itself. It was a concrete block building with one door in the front, no windows or doors on the east side and only one block glass window, the kind that wouldn't implode or get smashed on the west side. I never saw the back of the place, but that was where the fences led, so I assume that the animals that were kept in small pens on the west side were funneled around the back and were allowed in the north side.

I've tried to find that building on Google Earth and can't. Might not be there now. But it was where they actually did the experiments on animals.

I was always intrigued by the contraptions on the flat roof. Huge boxes, tubes, coils, funnels and lots of stainless steel. Today I feel that was a negative air flow system so that no spores could get out.

That supposedly had its own collection or supply of anthrax. That was not destroyed.

Now the vet school was and still in right on the south edge almost on top of I-80. Back then it was not the sprawling collection of buildings that it is today. Then there was a long driveway leading to it from the main turn-off. Now I think the whole thing is built up and lots of parking lots.

I know they said there was no overall inventory, so are they admitting that their stewardship of this pathogen was compromised early on?

There was a report early on that the cabinet wasn't lock during the day, but was locked at night. But what does this stuff look like? Could you uncork it and take a spore or two? Was it sealed?

I have to assume that it was not sealed when it was sent to the contact, but the innocent student got it by mistake. The innocent student and her husband both had lesions. She did say she opened the package, she did not say if she opened a vial, or how it was packaged. She just said it looked like seeds.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/paraformaldehyde_factsheet.htm

Note the four places that were granted the use of this.

For the uninitiated: A Section 18 is granted when the FIFRA label does not include the specific use. P. is not labeled for use on anthrax, so in order to use it you have to get a Section 18, which is like a permission slip to use it this way. The reason that P. is not labeled for use on anthrax is that the manufacturer doesn’t want to go through the process of proving that it works or that it doesn’t work. If they only had 4 sales in this area, it would not pay to have it labeled for this.

Now the EPA lady did say, that after 9-11-01 that ISU came back and requested that the place where the anthrax was stored, the canisters were separately listed as a site.

As for ISU knowing what or which one or if something had been taken, other than the contamination.......

Let’s take ten cookie jars and put 100 cookies in each jar. Now it is your turn to get us some cookies. How are you going to do it?

Come on.....I know you can figure this one out.

“Until 1991, paraformaldehyde was also registered for control decontamination of laboratories and experimental animal facilities. However, all registrations for this use and many of the other uses described above were canceled due to nonpayment of registration maintenance fees by the manufacturer.

Subsequently, only two products remain registered. Since the laboratory use of paraformaldehyde has not been registered since 1991 and no alternatives are available, EPA has also issued several quarantine exemptions (and usually renews them every three years) to continue this use for specific federal agencies:

a.United States Department of Agriculture ( USDA) for use of paraformaldehyde in a poultry health laboratory in Arkansas;
b.U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) for laboratory decontamination; and
c.USDA to decontaminate high-containment microbiological laboratories at Plum Island, NY, and Ames, IA.”

And what kind of “scientist” are you exactly, if I may ask?

“Until 1991, paraformaldehyde was also registered for control decontamination of laboratories and experimental animal facilities. However, all registrations for this use and many of the other uses described above were canceled due to nonpayment of registration maintenance fees by the manufacturer.

Subsequently, only two products remain registered. Since the laboratory use of paraformaldehyde has not been registered since 1991 and no alternatives are available, EPA has also issued several quarantine exemptions (and usually renews them every three years) to continue this use for specific federal agencies:

a.United States Department of Agriculture ( USDA) for use of paraformaldehyde in a poultry health laboratory in Arkansas;
b.U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) for laboratory decontamination; and
c.USDA to decontaminate high-containment microbiological laboratories at Plum Island, NY, and Ames, IA.”

And what kind of “scientist” are you exactly, if I may ask?