10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 2, 2001
FRIDAY Focus
0
WHIAT
NEXT,,
FBI wanis police that bndges
in Calionna may be targeted
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gov. Gray Davis
said yesterday that law enforcement officials
have "credible evidence" that terrorists may be
targeting four California bridges, including the
Golden Gate Bridge.
The FBI, however, said in a statement that
authorities had not yet corroborated the infor-
mation but decided to issue a warning.
"Reportedly, unspecified groups are targeting
suspension bridges on the West Coast," the FBI
said in a statement. Six "incidents" were
planned during rush hour between today and
Nov. 7, the statement said.
The bridges identified by Davis as possible
targets were the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge,
both in San Francisco, the Vincent Thomas
Bridge at the Port of Los Angeles, and the
Coronado Bridge in San Diego.
Security around the bridges has been height-
ened and involves the National Guard, U.S.
Coast Guard and California Highway Patrol.
"The best preparation is to let terrorists
know, we know what you're up to, we're ready
for you." Davis said during a news conference
in which he also appointed the state's new ter-
rorism security czar.
Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy
Tucker said the information that prompted yes-
terday's warning was "at a lower level" than the
information that led to the FBI's alert Monday.
"We are working to verify the validity" of the
information, Tucker said.
The Golden Gate, a 4,200-foot-long suspen-
sion bridge, spans across the Golden Gate
Strait at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It
has had more than 1.6 billion vehicle crossings
since it opened in 1937. The 4 1/2-mile long
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge carries
some 270,000 vehicles daily.
"We feel we're well-prepared for any nefari-
ous and criminal actions," said Jeff Weiss,
spokesman for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge. "We're routinely inspecting the IDs of
workers ... on the bridge to assure that everyone
who is on the bridge belongs on the bridge."
Although hundreds of bomb threats have be
called in to authorities about sites in California,
this is only the second threat judged to be cred-
ible since the Sept. 11 attacks, Davis said. The
first targeted Los Angeles movie studios.
Several Hollywood studios halted tours and
increased armed patrols following a general
warning Sept. 20 from the FBI that television
and movie facilities could be targets of terrorist
attacks.
At yesterday's press conference, Davis
announced his appointment of George Vinson,
a 23-year veteran of the FBI, to the newly cre-
ated post. Vinson, 57, previously served as
assistant special agent in charge of the San
Francisco office.
The state security officer will advise Davis
on the latest anti-terrorism strategies and act as
a liaison to the federal Office of Homeland
Security, governor's spokesman Steve Maviglio
said.
"This will make our job easier. It will make
us more efficient," said Maj. Gen. Paul Monroe,
adjutant general of the California National
Guard.
Y6
AP PHOTO
sterday evening. California Goy. Gray Davis, along with the FBI, announced that terrorist may
ther attacks next week.
in anthrax spread
Anthrax spreads to the Midwest
Traces of anthrax have been found
in postal facilities in Indiana and
Missouri, exteioding the reach of
the deadly threat to the Midwest.
Four weeks into the investigation,
authorities have "no progress to
report," according to Attorney
General John Ashcroft. Here is a
look at anthrax cases as of
Thursday evening.
Deah "at hd)
I9 Inhaled infection ,s
4 Cutaneous infection
O Site contamination
--_.r
New York
t1 | 6:05
New Jersey
* 2 -&3 :02
Washington, D.C., area
0 2 fe3 _020
Pedestrians and cars cross the Golden Gate Bridge yes
be targeting the Golden Gate and other bridges for furl
Indiana
Missouri
01
01
G4
Florida
@1 e'1
SOURCE: Associated Press
Biological weapons
treaty under review
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Declaring that the threat
posed by germ warfare and terrorism "is real and
extremely dangerous," President Bush opened a
campaign yesterday to strengthen and expand the
provisions of a 1972 treaty banning biological
weapons.
His proposal would extend many of the treaty's
terms to the criminal level, taking the treaty from a
government-to-government pact regulating actions
by countries to one also encompassing the behavior
of individuals.
The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention,
which 144 nations have ratified, bans the develop-
ment, production and possession of all biological
weapons. But "the source of biological weapons
has not been eradicated," Bush said. "Instead, the
threat is growing."
In a statement seemingly linking the outbreak of
anthrax cases in the United States to the terrorist
hijackings, Bush added: "Since Sept. 11, America
and others have been confronted by the evils these
weapons can inflict. This threat is real and extreme-
ly dangerous. Rogue states and terrorists possess
these weapons and are willing to use them."
While Bush and some senior administration offi-
cials have said that they would not be surprised if
Osama bin Laden, who they say is responsible for
the Sept. 11 attacks, has also had a hand in the
spread of anthrax, the FBI and the CIA say they
have found nothing that connects the leader of the
al-Qaida terrorist network to the germs.
The president proposed that the 144 treaty par-
ticipants enact "strict criminal legislation" prohibit-
ing biological warfare activities, bring the United
Nations into investigations of suspicious outbreaks
or allegations of biological weapons use, and estab-
lish a code of ethical conduct to guide the work of
bioscientists.
His measure would also commit the signatories
to improving international efforts at controlling dis-
ease and enhancing procedures to speed response
teams to sites of disease outbreaks. It would also
establish mechanisms in each country to oversee
the security and genetic engineering of pathogenic
organisms.
Signatories to the treaty are scheduled to meet in
Geneva for three weeks beginning Nov. 19. Treaty
review sessions are held regularly every five years.
'No cues'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Investigators
reported "no clues" indicating the mail is to
blame for the death of a New York City hos-
pital worker, but said yesterday the anthrax
that killed her is indistinguishable from that
found in tainted letters. More than 170 postal
workers in Missouri began preventive antibi-
otics after spores were found in Kansas City.
Just outside Washington, anthrax was
found in yet more government buildings,
with preliminary positive tests in four Food
and Drug Administration mail rooms. Postal
authorities began picking through piles of
decontaminated mail, searching for a possi-
ble unopened tainted letter.
In New York, dozens of investigators
traced Kathy T. Nguyen's final steps in an
attempt to find out how she was infected
with inhalation anthrax.
"We are reviewing the routes that mail
might have traveled to reach her," said Dr.
Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. "So far we have
found no clues to suggest that the mail or the
mail handling was the cause of her expo-
sure."
Still, Gerberding said, the investigation
suggests Nguyen was not exposed in a pub-
lic place because additional patients have not
turned up. "It's somewhat reassuring that
this was not something that posed a broader
threat," she said.
Investigators in New York have deter-
mined that the anthrax that killed her is
"basically indistinguishable" from that in
letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom
Daschle, to NBC and to the New York Post,
said Dr. Steven Ostroff of the CDC.
Investigators found that the anthrax
involved responds to antibiotics, Gerberding
added, and officials suspect that Nguyen may
have sought treatment too late for the drugs
to work.
Disease detectives were studying
Nguyen's life after she fell victim to inhala-.
tion anthrax on Wednesday, the fourth per-
son to die since the anthrax-by-mail attack
was discovered nearly a month ago. Her
death had officials worried that the anthrax
attack, so far concentrated among postal and
media employees, could be spreading to a
new group of Americans.
"We need to find out how she was infect-
ed," said Surgeon General David Satcher.
"It's very strange."
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said preliminary
tests for a Nguyen co-worker at the Manhat-
tan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital who has a
suspicious skin lesion were negative.
Anthrax has killed four people and infect-
ed six others with the dangerous inhalation
form of the disease. An additional seven
people have been infected with the highly
curable skin form.
Preliminary tests Wednesday found
anthrax spores in a Kansas City, Mo., postal
facility, extending the anthrax threat to the
Midwest. More than 170 workers joined tens
of thousands others on the East Coast who
are taking antibiotics to ward off possible
infection. Anthrax was also found at a pri-
vate postal maintenance center in Indianapo-
lis on equipment sent from a contaminated
mail-processing center in Trenton, N.J.
The positive test results in Kansas City
came in two spots on one trash bag where
envelopes were discarded. Officials suspect-
ed the source of the anthrax was mail that
had passed through the contaminated Brent-
wood facility in Washington.
The FDA said yesterday that preliminary
tests found anthrax spores in mailrooms of
four of its five Rockville, Md.,, buildings
where mail is processed. While confirmatory
tests are pending, the FDA closed all mail-
rooms for cleaning and put its mail handlers
on preventive antibiotics.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, a lab confirmed yes-
terday that traces of anthrax were found in at
least one mailbag used by the U.S. Embassy
in the former Soviet Baltic republic, marking
the first known of appearance in Europe.
The news was better inside Washington's
postal system, where three post offices
closed for decontamination reopened and
city officials reconsidered whether thousands
of mail handlers in private offices and outly-
ing post offices need to take preventive med-
icine, as was recommended last week.
Nearby, the Baltimore Air IvMa°i Facility was
reopening when testing found no anthrax
after the facility had been shuttered for near-
ly two weeks.
"We have gotten our arms around this and
we may be on the other side," said Dr. Ivan
Walks, the city's chief health officer.
Not so in New York, where investigators
were puzzled by the death of Nguyen, a 61-
year-old Vietnamese immigrant who
checked into the hospital three days earlier.
Sedated and using a ventilator to breathe,
she was never able to provide investigators
clues about where she might have encoun-
tered the deadly bacteria.
Environmental testing at her Bronx apart-
,ment and at the outpatient hospital where
she worked found no evidence of anthrax.
I
a
Signs similar for
early anthrax, flu
Michigan officials
investigate hoaxes
The Associated Press
Doctors have a new clue to help sort
out whether people with aches and
coughs have the ominous first signs of
inhaled anthrax or ordinary colds and
flu: Anthrax victims don't have runny
noses.
In general, the first symptoms of
inhaled anthrax are the same as the flu
and other wintertime viruses - fever,
ache, cough, no energy. As a result,
some worry that doctors will prescribe
lots of anthrax-killing antibiotics -
which do nothing for colds and flu -
just to make sure they don't miss a
case of anthrax in its early, treatable
stage.
"We will do everything we can to
help clinicians sort this out," promised
Dr. Julie Gerberding.
No test will reveal anthrax exposure
or predict who might develop anthrax
in the near future. Nasal swabs, if
given soon enough, can help show
whether anthrax was present in a par-
ticular location, but they do not tell
doctors anything about an individual's
risk.
So far, the single most important
information is the patient's job. Doc-
tors should be suspicious if patients
are postal workers or handle mail,
especially in areas where anthrax has
been found.
"I can't emphasize enough the
LANSING (AP) - State and fed-
eral authorities are investigating 18
possible bioterrorist hoaxes in
Michigan, but stressed yesterday
that they have found no traces of
anthrax.
Col. Michael Robinson said
Michigan State Police are actively
pursuing 17 separate cases. State
police have forwarded one case to
federal authorities.
Robinson wouldn't say whether
police have any suspects in the cases,
but he said no arrests have been made.
The cases don't seem to be connected,
he said.
In each of the cases being investigat-
ed, the packaging or the way a substance
was received suggests a hoax, Robinson
cal substance, he said.
Both Robinson and Haveman said
yesterday that traces of anthrax reported
elsewhere in the Midwest won't affect
the way Michigan is handling its testing
or its postal facilities.
Preliminary tests Wednesday found
anthrax spores in a Kansas City, Mo.,
postal facility. Anthrax also was found
at a private postal maintenance center in
Indianapolis on equipment sent from a
contaminated mail-processing center in
Trenton, N.J.
"Just follow normal precautions.
That's what we're telling people to do at
this point," Haveman said.
Those precautions include not open-
ing suspicious letters and washing hands
and calling authorities if powder spills
fromk an neoe