Frist: Anthrax Attack Could Kill 2 Million

NewsMax.com ^ | Thursday, October 11, 2001

[JohnHuang2]

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Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001 12:23 a.m. EDT

Frist: Anthrax Attack Could Kill 2 Million

Tennessee Republican Bill Frist, the only physician in the U.S. Senate, warned Wednesday that the kind of airborne anthrax attack contemplated by Twin Towers terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta is not only feasable -- it could kill up to 2 million people if executed over Washington, D.C.

"Once you get a little bit, you can grow it," Frist told CNBC's Chris Matthews. "In a few days or a few weeks you can take that little bitty bit [of anthrax] and you can have a big batch of it, 100 kilograms of it in just, really, about two or three weeks."

The Tennessee senator estimated that 30 or 40 U.S. academic institutions are currently storing anthrax for research purposes.

An anthrax sample could be grown in a 15-square-foot room with about $100,000 of equipment, Frist said.

The doctor-turned-politician noted that a single ounce of anthrax, once airborne, killed 68 people in the former Soviet Union in 1979.

Frist told Matthews that weaponizing anthrax would not be difficult.

"People say, do we have the technology to deliver it? And all this about the crop dusters. Well, it's not that hard to deliver," Frist said, referring to Atta's plan to use crop dusters to spread anthrax over U.S. population centers. "Sure it could be done."

"[This was] studied in 1993," Frist told Matthews.

"There was the effect of taking about 100 kilograms, which is about a little over 200 pounds -- what it would take to fertilize about a couple of acres -- and if you took it out and you dropped it over a place like Washington, D.C. -- and this is from a 1993 study by the Office of Science and Technology -- anywhere from 100,000 people to 2 million people would die."

Frist said that he thought the anthrax outbreak at the Florida headquarters of the supermarket tabloid firm American Media Inc. was an "isolated incident" that was unconnected to Atta or other terrorists sent to the U.S. by Osama bin Laden.

Atta took flying lessons and inquired about renting crop dusters just miles from AMI's Boca Raton offices.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
War on Terrorism
Bioterrorism
Health Issues

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[sharktrager]

Interesting.

CDC says you couldn't distribute anthrax using a cropduster because the spraying mechanisws would destroy the spores to the point that they wouldn't cause the disease.

Now the question is, who's wrong?

[jbstrick]

I think the article is a little alarmist.

[cynicom]

John...

If this were to happen now, most of the Middle East would become a nuclear wasteland within days.

[MizSterious]

I think I'm almost as alarmed by the panic being propagated as I am by the possibility of bioterrorism. I'm seeing a lot of genuine panic where perhaps simple vigilence would be a better course. Panic is often counter-productive, folks, and can even lead to worsening the situation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only cases of confirmed anthrax confined to one building in one city in one state? I think it's smart to be watchful, and smarter still to be prepared "in case"--but some of these threads on FR are just wild, blind panic.

[alisasny]

I say we totally cut out the stem cell funding by the feds and put it right on the Anthrax path. I would much prefer 2 million healthy americans then using those stem cell lines with my taxpayer money.

[francisandbeans]

I agree with you...there is a fine line here. The problem is, when Tommy Thompson comes on an hour after the first case and calls it "unrelated" (just about all of us knew it wasn't) makes us nervous. It's not what we know...it's what we are not being told that can cause us to get a little nervous.

[kjam22]

Hmmmm....... if that happened in New York or Florida... would Oklahoma get it's lost House seat back??

Just kidding.

[BearPaw1]

Good post. I was thinking on those same lines. Something is up and your post sounds like that is
what they are trying to do.

[TightSqueeze]

Right out of the 'Art of War'....maximize your weapons.

By the time we learn it is too late. We need to remove the threat now, deport all foreigners who fit the profile of a terrorist, revoke all student visas, close the borders for 6 months to a year to get a handle on the problem. Close university research on anthrax and any other possible bio-terrorist hazards. Start acting like a country that is at war.

[FITZ]

Yes I think a lot of truth would go a long way in quieting the panic. People resort to rumors and hearsay when they have little else to go on. Just like they aren't reporting how many Arabs they are finding on the borders trying to come into the US.

[wjeanw]

I saw this interview. They had so little time to really talk about it adequately and Chris Matthew's was buttering up the Congressmen, that I think all the attention went to his head. You may theorically be able to produce 100 kilograms of the bacteria, but handling such a large amount of that stuff as it multiplies in such a way that it doesn't infect yourself in the process is VERY DIFFICULT. For instance, the case in Russia is an example of how it escaped its containment. Even if you are successful in making it, then you also need to continue that containment until you release it. Any releases along the way will cause outbreaks before your other release and will be a signal that anthrax is in the neighborhood. (This is from my Dad who is a research pharmacologist/toxocologist).

[willshaker]

How do we push for this? Are there any grassroots efforts in place now to get these people out of the U.S.? I'm serious, does anyone know?

Thanks.

[JohnHuang2]

I saw the interview, too. Matthews kept interupting. I think Frist was trying to make the point that -- while this horrendous, unimaginable scenario is theoretically possible -- it is extremely unlikely.

[francisandbeans]

as far as I am concerned...we have done 2 things that were unexpected by Osama:

First, waiting nearly a month before counter attacking.
Second, the food drops on Afghanistan.
Neither of those things are crushing. Doing the unexpected is what is required for us to nip these guys. Deportation? It could fall under 'unexpected'...however, he may have cells here which have taken a citizenship oath. That what we have to wonder.

[JohnHuang2]

If this were to happen now, most of the Middle East would become a nuclear wasteland within days.

Absolutely.

[imperator2]

It is extremely important to reiterate again and again, that any nation harboring or providing any support for terrorists will be severly attacked and destroyed. This will make terrorism much more expensive and unlikely,

[MizSterious]

I couldn't agree with you more! I think the government (or at least Thompson) is definitely part of the problem. Nothing makes people more jittery than the appearance of hedging or outright lying. Thompson's appearance on one of the news shows recently was a disgrace, and an insult to intelligence: 7 trucks, he said, ready to go anywhere in the U.S. His grinning denials of danger probably did more damage than the worst terrorist propogandists could ever devise. I watched that interview, and I was not reassured. I think the people not only deserve the truth, but I think most of us can handle it--far better than lies, in any event.

[LarryLied]

Panic is often counter-productive, folks, and can even lead to worsening the situation.

I disagree. Panic is good. For over 6 years, nothing we said woke up the idiots who adored what Clinton was doing.