# Anthrax Vial Collectors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthrax-vial-collectors/742193>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 5, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthrax-vial-collectors/742193 "2016-01-05T01:55:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthrax-vial-collectors/742193/1 "2016-01-05T01:55:13Z")

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About 20 years ago, _60 Minutes_ ran a story about a subculture of people–mostly non-scientists or -doctors–who collected vials of dangerous disease cultures. They even interviewed one of them at some length. Is there a name for this subculture, and is it still a thing?

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**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anthrax-vial-collectors/742193/2 "2016-01-05T14:17:55Z")

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Criminals? I didn’t think it was legal in the US to do this since it would pose an imminent threat to your neighbors. Trying to find a law against it…