Posted on 10/04/2001 12:35:09 PM PDT by NautiNurse
According to what I've read, the aerosol is hard to produce. You need a big lab and lots of equipment which costs a lot of money. What I want to know is if this stuff is so easy to produce and set off, how come some random nut (not even Arab, but just some loser chemist who's pissed off at the world) hasn't done this before? Those psycho Japanese who let of the sarin gas in Tokyo had millions of dollars to work with and tried to set off anthrax a few times, but didn't kill anyone with it. Unless the technology has got that much better in the last 10 years (it probably has got better, but I don't believe it is that advanced yet), I just don't see it happening on a large scale basis without the help of some rogue nation.
You won't get any cases if the droplets just fall to the ground like rain. They have to float around for a while so people can breathe them in. That's why they have to be small, and the cropduster isn't designed for it.
A few modifications, though, and all bets are off.
A terrorist would be better off blasting a shotgun into a schoolbus or just dumping toxins into sinkholes where they could enter the local water supply.
Besides, if the objective is to terrorize, you don't need to actually commit additional attacks once you've bombed the WTC. At least not for a while. You can thrive off of the scares and panics quite well, as they are just as disruptive. Just stealing a crop duster is good enough to set off a panic. Or just shoot it down or saboutage it and get rid of the evidence, then report it missing so the government can't deny it. People will assume the worst all by themselves. Steal a hazmat truck... make sure the press knows. People will assume the worst, even though you can easily use any kind of truck as a delivery device. Scaring people is easy- and cheap- once you have already committed one atrocity.
Once people cry wolf enough times and grow jaded, you can always pull off a real act of terrorism to start the cycle again.
I don't scare easily, but my wife and I just took some Cipro,and gave my three year old son Doxycycline
What exactly does Cipro and Doxycycline do? Where can we get this?
It's a fog. Yes it gets to the ground eventually. Dump it at high altitude, not low, and the carrier liquid evaporates, the solids are then like dust in the wind. There is no smell, or warning at all and the plane is miles away.
MKM
Freep mail me if you want to know how.
MKM
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A 63-year-old man has been hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax, Florida Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan said Thursday.
Anthrax has been developed by some countries as a possible biological weapon, but Brogan said there was no indication the illness was related to bioterrorism.
The Lantana, Fla. man, whose name was not released, checked into a hospital on Tuesday and it was initially believed he had meningitis, Brogan said. But testing and X-rays showed that it was pulmonary anthrax, an extremely lethal disease. It is treated with antibiotics.
Florida Secretary of Health John Agwunobi said the disease is not contagious and there is no indication that anyone else has it. The disease, while rare, can be caught naturally.
Brogan said the man had recently traveled to North Carolina and became ill shortly after he returned. The incubation period for the disease can be 60 days.
Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach health department, said officials believe the case is isolated and it is "very likely" to be fatal.
Palm Beach County health officials have scheduled a news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the case.
Anthrax is a spore-forming bacterium often carried by livestock that is especially virulent if inhaled. The disease causes pneumonia and the spores germinate and spread through the lungs, releasing toxin.
There is a vaccine to prevent the disease.
Anthrax can be caught by handling infected animals, eating contaminated meat or breathing in anthrax spores. All forms are rare, but the most recent cases - including ones in Texas and North Dakota - have been so-called cutaneous cases resulting from handling animals.
During the 20th century, only 18 cases of inhaled anthrax have been reported in the United States, the most recent in 1976.
AP-ES-10-04-01 1543EDT
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