Not to cuase an anthrax panic but........

[newsperson999]

nothing personal but I am tired of some freepers playing this anthrax thing down. Should we stop our lives and hide in our homes? no. But this is a bio-attack that grows each day. Somebody said 20,000 people died from the flu last year..well by that logic the 9-11 attacks were minor news because 4 times more people died from the flu then died in the WTC attack.

[gopgirl]

I see your point, this has been woundering in the back of my mind. It is starting to get dangerous, maybe we have only seen the beginning of this stuff. They said it can stay in a person for a long time without any symptoms.

When you hear the experts talk about anthrax on tv, you kinda feel better, but then I think to myself, did these experts actually use this stuff on people way back when? Did they get it to the best quality? Who knows, only time will tell... BUT... WE HAVE TO STAND TALL!

[2nd Amendment Enforcer]

No need to be alarmed. The government will take care of you and keep you safe. Move along. Yeah, just like the government protects us from crime, huh?

I'm confident in Uncle Sam's abilities - to a point - to take care of international military disputes, but as far as domestic problems are concerned, I trust 'em about as far as I can thrown 'em.

[lelio]

More people will die today from slipping in their bathtub than will die of Anthrax.
But bathtubs just don't just out of anywhere. I go into the tub, I know what precautions to take, and I know the risks. This is a complete unknown.

[shezza]

Well, I'll tell ya. I'm normally a level-headed, calm-cool-and-collected kind of gal. Rarely do the feathers get ruffled. But this is getting a little too close to home. You're right in that these postal workers didn't OPEN the anthrax-laced envelope(s)--they just carried and sorted. So apparently an envelope was leaking big time, crammed full of the "finely grounded" spores a la' the Daschle letter. (And the postal rep said investigation showed the Daschle letter was well-sealed with tape so it was probably another letter.) If these guys got enough of a whiff just touching an envelope in passing, maybe 1-2 seconds, how is MY mail affected? Could it have laid on top of one of those anthrax letters in a mail tray? Was anthrax spilling out of a tear and infecting all the mail in the vicinity? This is serious business.

Despite the whines showing up on other threads ("Lighten up! 50,000 people die in car accidents! 80,000 will die from heart disease this year alone!"), this is not an act of nature or an accident. This is like a sniper taking aim at whoever happens to walk innocently past. That's like saying we shouldn't have been concerned about Columbine, because ten times as many kids die of drug overdoses every day. Or that we ought not to have been shocked when Kennedy was shot--it was just one man. "Let's put this into perspective, people," is their idiotic cry.

This is a malicious act of violence against innocent people, and not to be equated with mortality rates for cancer or car accidents. And to compare them as such is asinine and ignorant.

[Lou L]

While I'm not to the point of worrying, I've yet to hear anyone speak of "containment," that is, how can we contain the anthrax that is out there--can it be detected (other than by accidentally infecting oneself? If so, can it be destroyed and effectively vanquished?

By the way, has anyone read Vector, by Robin Cook? His scenario is almost verbatim with what's taking place in our country today. Scary.

[shempy]

I am having a difficult time stressing over anthrax. Chances are that around 800 people will die this week in automobile accidents. Where is the panic over that?

I wonder how these hysteria-prone people can even make it through a day. How do they ever get enough nerve to climb stairs? It is a dangerous world, but on the list of things to be afraid of, anthrax has got to be pretty low. I'd place it on the list somewhere between ballpoint pens and paper clips.

[ctdonath2]

This is a complete unknown.

So is the drunk driving toward you at a cumulative speed of 120 MPH when he suddenly swerves into your lane. Not under your control, not expected. Variants of that amount to 10,000+ dead per year.

Maybe that's not a "complete unknown" in your eyes. You know about Anthrax distribution, so infected mail isn't a "complete unknown" anymore either.

[alisasny]

Calm down....300 people have died in USA past month due to herione from that Afghan area....

[AmericaUnited]

Don't look now but I see a few spores floating around by your head. You had better go back down into the bunker.

[ctdonath2]

I've long thought about getting a rubber stamp marked "Unwanted material - return to sender" for stamping & returning junk mail. Maybe this is the right time to do so.

[djf]

ROTFLMAO!!

[shempy]

This is a malicious act of violence against innocent people, and not to be equated with mortality rates for cancer or car accidents. And to compare them as such is asinine and ignorant.

In some respects, you are right. They should certainly be punished differently. But from a risk assesment standpoint, the comparisons make perfect sense and help to put the threat in perspective. Failing to put these things in perspective is truly "asinine and ignorant".

[conservativejunkie]

You go girl! Finally someone with a brain! I'm up to here with the statistics of all deaths. Tell it to the families that lost their loved ones. It is just plain mean spirited of them.

[francisandbeans]

Perhaps you should read My Complete Whackjob Nutbag theory on white powders and anthrax

[eFudd]

So please explain to me the value of going into or promoting panic.

Do you believe our reaction to the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor was to panic? Your odd analogy and multiple posts seems to imply that you think it was.

I suppose if you are talking about the fright or flight mechanism, you can make a case for panic getting a person out of harms way. When you are dealing with a systematic attack over a period of time, like we seem to be with this anthrax, I do not see any benifit to panic at all.

Do you?

[germanshepherd]

Perhaps we could start opening our mail with disposable rubber gloves and a gas mask. Perhaps someone could start a service to do this for us, guaranteeing "clean mail" for a monthly fee. Perhaps the government could start doing this for us... never mind.

[ctdonath2]

Despite the whines showing up on other threads ("Lighten up! 50,000 people die in car accidents! 80,000 will die from heart disease this year alone!"), this is not an act of nature or an accident. This is like a sniper taking aim at whoever happens to walk innocently past. ... This is a malicious act of violence against innocent people, and not to be equated with mortality rates for cancer or car accidents. And to compare them as such is asinine and ignorant.

Awright, let's adjust the statistics accordingly. The letters were sent to particular addresses, and the postal workers were "collateral damage". Some 30,000 people are shot to death each year - that's a malicious act, many of them are not intentional targets. Muggings & rapes are often (majority?) done to arbitrary targets - far more than Anthrax victims. Heck, more innocents get the death penalty, and far more innocents are jailed, than the numbers you're worrying about.

Keep in mind too that the postal workers handle LOTS more mail than you do. Even in the extreme chance that you get a letter that Anthrax was spilled on, by the time it gets you you enough of it was probably brushed off to not be a real risk.

Yes, Anthrax is a risk. Don't open envelopes from people you don't know. Toss the junk mail without opening (would have been a waste of time anyway). Use phone & email more. And above all, avoid the most harmful effect of Anthrax: worrying about it.