# Putting anthrax into it's proper perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 24, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369 "2001-10-24T19:51:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/21 "2001-10-25T12:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\* [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82889](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82889) Things have changed even in the few days since Vinnie was asking about [microwaving her mail.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=94736) \*\* [/QUOTE] Another obsessed fan tracking my every post. Just because I was asking a question does not mean I was looking for suggestions, I was just kind of throwing ideas out there, as evidenced by the title of my post. Please cite where in the thread cited that I said “I’m scared, I want to know how I handle my mail.” And even if what you are implying is true, there’s a difference between taking wise precautions and panicking and being irrational. Personally, I’ll take the PG’s suggestion and wash my hands after handling the mail. Which I usually do anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/22 "2001-10-25T13:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > BTW, isn’t Daschle currently third in line in the scheme of presidential succession? No. 1 - Vice-President Cheney 2 - Speaker of the House Hastert 3 - President Pro-Tem of the Senate Byrd 4 - Secretary of State Powell - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/23 "2001-10-25T14:44:51Z")
> [@](#): > > The anthrax spores that contaminated the air in Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle’s office had been treated with a chemical additive so sophisticated that only three nations are thought to have been capable of making it, sources said yesterday. Wow, what are we talking here ? Mannitol ? Carbodiimides ? Oddly complexed thio-ethers ? There are all sorts of obscure chemicals that are only produced by two or three nations. That doesn’t mean that the substances are not widely available to anyone who wants them. Is there any evidence that the anonymous sources for this bit of technobabble are any better informed than those behind all the earlier pronouncements ? The politicians and press have making all sorts of wild claims ever since the letter was found in Daschle’s office. There was no indication yesterday that they had suddenly acquired a factual basis for their pronouncements about the powder. I’m sure that they’ll let us know when they do. Vinnie, I did not make the claim that you were scared. I will say that you seemed very uncertain of your facts; why else inquire about microwaving mail ? The contrast between that uncertainty and your facetious dismissal of the anthrax issue in this thread was just too pretty an example of the whimsies of supposedly rational thought to let pass without comment. We agree that the current attack was pretty minor when viewed on a personal level, but when you dismiss it in a cavalier fashion because of that, you run the risk of blinding yourself to the broader implications. Once something is done for the first time it becomes easier for others to do the same thing. The “unthinkable” label has been removed from idea of delivering diseases through the mail. Our luck in not dying immediately will not put this particular genie back in the bottle, so we had better learn to deal with it rationally. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/24 "2001-10-25T15:02:00Z")
There is another important quote from the article cited by **Doghouse** : “A government official with direct knowledge of the investigation said yesterday that the totality of the evidence in hand suggests that it is unlikely that the spores were originally produced in the former Soviet Union or Iraq.” That would seem to imply that the supply came from right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/25 "2001-10-25T15:03:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*I recently read of a government study (which predated the current attack) that determined in a worst case scenario of an anthrax based attack (ie assuming that anthrax in its most virulant form was disseminated in a manner to maximize casualties) total fatalities were estimated at approximately 95,000. A horrendous number certainly, but less than one out of a thousand Americans. \*\* I saw a blurb on that study as well, in one of the major news magazines. The study contemplated a two-kilometer-long trail of anthrax being released upwind from a **single city** of a given size. (And I seem to recall that size being rather small. 300,000 maybe.) Looks a little more ominous in that light. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/26 "2001-10-25T15:15:52Z")
Here’s another less-than-comforting blurb from today’s Atlanta Constitution: > [@](#): > > A longstanding assumption is that it would take at least 5,000 to 8,000 anthrax spores for some of them to bypass the body’s safeguards and lodge deeply in the lungs, where they develop into bacterial cells that produce toxins that cause death. > > However, the inhalation anthrax cases among workers at post offices in New Jersey and Washington suggest smaller amounts of the spores could bring on infection, jeopardizing a much larger group of workers than health officials initially thought. Frankly, we are in a perilous time and bland “Don’t worry, be happy” pronouncements are disingenous at best and misleading and dangerous at worst. The key phrase in the OP is “so far.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/27 "2001-10-25T15:34:04Z")
The Post article is an excellent source of information, but the line about only three nations having the needed chemical additive is rather misleading. Apparently only three nations are known to have actually produced powdered anthrax with low levels of static charge. That work was done years ago, when it was probably much more difficult to control the electrostatic properties of powders during the drying process than it is today. A **lot** of water has flowed under the bridge of materials processiing since the early seventies. It would be a mistake to assume that was difficult to do back then is still beyond the scope of private individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/28 "2001-10-25T16:18:19Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Squink \* \*\* [quoteOur luck in not dying immediately will not put this particular genie back in the bottle, so we had better learn to deal with it rationally. \*\*[/QUOTE] Agreed, and I’m sure that steps will be taken to better screen the mail and counter bio-terror as the result of these incidents. I tend to look at the glass half full rather than half empty though. The news media IS having a a field day with this by the way. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369/29 "2001-10-25T23:46:23Z")
Sadly, through the deaths of others and the illnesses of many more, the public health system is learning more about the disease and its transmission. I doubt that the people sending the spores know more about anthrax than the CDC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putting-anthrax-into-its-proper-perspective/89369.md?page=1)