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Live Anthrax Shipped Accidentally To S Korea and US Labs

New submitter hamsterz1 writes: U.S. Officials say that the military mistakenly sent live anthrax to laboratories in nine states and an air base in South Korea, after apparently failing to properly inactivate the bacteria. Four lab workers in the United States and up to 22 overseas have been given precautionary medical treatment. The CDC is investigating the incident and Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren says, "Out of an abundance of caution, [the Defence Department] has stopped the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation."

67 comments

  1. nice lab you have there by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    it would be a shame if something.....

  2. Slash Media also ships viruses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    What Slashdot doesn't want you to know:

    http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/sourceforge-grabs-gimp-for-windows-account-wraps-installer-in-bundle-pushing-adware/

    SourceForge grabs GIMP for Windows’ account, wraps installer in bundle-pushing adware

  3. What about the May 28 gig? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm confused. Does this mean that May's 28 live in Houston is cancelled? And who is this bozo that sent live Anthrax to Korea?

  4. At least they used Fedex... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    USPS would have misdelivered it.

    1. Re:At least they used Fedex... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 4, Funny

      USPS would have misdelivered it.

      KPA North Korean base, air force base in South Korea.

      Meh, what's the difference. Potato, tomato,

    2. Re:At least they used Fedex... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Potato and tomato are same things to you? Go see a doctor before too late.

    3. Re:At least they used Fedex... by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      I think that's his point....

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    4. Re:At least they used Fedex... by itsenrique · · Score: 1

      It's potato patahto, or tomato, tomathto-- not potato tomato! So was that really his point? Thats just like me saying, "apples, oranges... bleh!"

    5. Re:At least they used Fedex... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      These are actually potato fruits:
      http://msue.anr.msu.edu/upload...

      so the confusion is understandable.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    6. Re:At least they used Fedex... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      This should help.

  5. Really, Guys? by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Funny

    You'd think NOT GETTING ANTHRAX would be an effective incentive for your lab monkeys to follow the lab's safety protocols. Is it really THAT depressing a workplace environment?
    "Hey Bob! Looks like we need to ship some anthrax to Korea."
    "Ok! Did you make sure it wouldn't kill us before we start handling the samples."
    "Does it really matter?"
    "... No... I guess not..."

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Really, Guys? by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

      Reminds me of the opening scene of 'The Stand' when everybody is panicking behind locked doors and one guy makes a run for it with his family

      Just in this version, nobody is panicking and the vehicle making a run for it is the Fedex van

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
    2. Re:Really, Guys? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of typical plausible deniability. Accidentally let out some undeniably US military weapons grade anthrax, so that some can disappear before the rest is recovered and then be used in a false flag event. So Jade Helm, the occupation of hostile cities with the active suppression and elimination of an opposed civilian population and now the wandering around of false flag fit material to prompt the US of Jade Helm training. So hmm, Ukraine, Iran or Venezuela, of course Jade Helm, (green as in jungle and helm as in control, tends to point to training to control a hostile Venezuelan population). They have made a huge mess in Europe, a major cock up in the middle east and so now it seems to be back to playing in South America because Brazil in BRICS (what is interesting about BRICS as a side note, is all the members are non English speakers yet the title is distinctly english).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:Really, Guys? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      It is government workers. You know, the stupidest of the stupidest combined with top scores in arrogance.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  6. They let a crisis go to waste by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Should have mailed the anthrax to David Cameron instead.

  7. Their only mistake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    was getting caught.

  8. Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slashdot by Khyber · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  9. Anthrax Live is awesome, not deadly! by countSudoku() · · Score: 5, Funny

    You guys, Anthrax Live is pretty fucking awesome! Their shows can get loud, but they play all... oh, not the band. Never mind.

    --
    This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
    1. Re:Anthrax Live is awesome, not deadly! by hamsterz1 · · Score: 0

      You guys, Anthrax Live is pretty fucking awesome! Their shows can get loud, but they play all... oh, not the band. Never mind.

      Yeah the drummer has great chops !.

  10. Main Point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Morons.

    additional text

  11. Why do we have it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why do we have Anthrax? Why is it even possible to be shipped anywhere? Are we preparing a biological weapon? Come on!

    1. Re:Why do we have it? by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 1

      They use killed anthrax to test detectors that can 'sniff' it out

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
    2. Re:Why do we have it? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      The US has officially weaponized anthrax without violating any treaties. The official story is that they needed to weaponize it to develop effective countermeasures. It's not a biological weapon. It's a biological defense. It's just indistinguishable from the weapon of the same name.

  12. Mod parent up. Slashdot Media sold us all out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SourceForge, rest in peace. What a shame.

  13. Caution by Livius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Stopping shipments sound like the minimum of caution, not an "abundance".

    1. Re:Caution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shipping of anthrax and other common diseases that do not spread on their own easily is routine. To stop a routine when no one's health has actually been effected nor likely to is being perceived as political posturing overkill to those that are aware of how disease research is done.

    2. Re:Caution by gweihir · · Score: 1

      This is the government. Loss of reality, no common sense, and grand delusions about their own skill and capabilities is standard.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    3. Re:Caution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stopping shipments sound like the minimum of caution, not an "abundance".

      Yeah. But will their be refunds?

    4. Re: Caution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also most corporations I've ever worked for or with.

      See, I can toss out crap politically motivated meaningless generalizations too.

  14. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I feel betrayed.

    What assholes.

  15. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there a listing of all "extras" packaged with Source Forge installers? I'm especially interested in the "extras" that were (are still?) packaged with Filezilla. Is all of the extra bundled software trustworthy with my personal data and passwords?

  16. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Various Toolbars, like Ask.com, and other shit.

    No, your information is not safe. SF is hijacking accounts claiming them to be abandoned (and being caught in the lie) in order to wrap the installer around the software package without consent of the account owner.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  17. These guys are the solution to the problem by raymorris · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    According to half the people here on Slashdot, the solution to any and all problems is to have another federal government department do _something_. Do what? Anything, really, as long as they do _something_. These guys are their great hope, people so dense they mail out live anthrax all over the place. Good luck getting them to solve all of your problems.

  18. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'd like to know why Slashdot is so far behind the curve on this story. Soylent picked it up this morning, almost twelve hours ago, and they're usually the last to approve anything. Why isn't Slashdot running a crucial story on SourceForge tampering with Open Source software and inserting adware/malware in total violation of the trust that it earned through the years?

  19. Re:More info to read! by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 2

    The link you gave calls the WTC attack a "nuclear demolition". I'm not sure how credible the link is.

    --PM

  20. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Because Slashdot Media, owner of SourceForge, doesn't want it getting out.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  21. Terrorists by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    I hope they catch those terrorists who were attacking our bases, and giving biological weapons to our enemies. No doubt they'll spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Terrorists by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Yeah, after what they did to that guy who merely had a pressure cooker in his car, I can't imagine what they'd to to guys dealing with real live anthrax.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  22. USA Fucks Geneva Conventions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Army, God bless its sole, just was doing what it did not understand but followed the directions faithfully.

    Short story, The USA is manufacturing BioWeapons and selling them to Saudi Arabia blessed countries and to Southeast Asian countries.

    Backstory, The USA is sending to local law enforcement BioWeapons to pacify the local populous. Don't like the Nigger Uprising in Ferguson MS. We have a fix!.

    Ha ja ha ja

    1. Re: USA Fucks Geneva Conventions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. Are you a cartoon?

  23. Re:More info to read! by hamsterz1 · · Score: 0

    The link you gave calls the WTC attack a "nuclear demolition". I'm not sure how credible the link is.

    --PM

    I understand your lack of trust in this link, but the text pages on anthrax, what it is, what it can do are excellent. Also many firefighters, and rescue workers on 9/11, heard multiple explosions as they tried to rescue people from the buildings, I don't know if mini-nukes were used or not, but there were multiple explosions of some kind heard and felt by NYFD workers, or should I say Heroes.

  24. Re:More info to read! by hamsterz1 · · Score: 0

    The link you gave calls the WTC attack a "nuclear demolition". I'm not sure how credible the link is.

    --PM

    I understand your lack of trust in this link, but the text pages on anthrax, what it is, what it can do are excellent. Also many firefighters, and rescue workers on 9/11, heard multiple explosions as they tried to rescue people from the buildings, I don't know if mini-nukes were used or not, but there were multiple explosions of some kind heard and felt by NYFD workers, or should I say Heroes.

    Also listen to a 32 year veteran of the NYFD talk about 9/11.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrpLp-X0ws).

  25. Shit! by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Now we can't use it for false flag operations : (

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  26. accidentally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    future trending headline in USA: "We accidentally South Korea"

  27. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Because Slashdot Media, owner of SourceForge, doesn't want it getting out.

    Indeed, which is why it's so damn stupid. I'd wager the people who read Slashdot exclusively and don't hear anything from any other tech sites is vanishingly small nowadays. This news has spread quite a bit. Slashdot Media can't exactly pretend that people won't find out independently. They have very little influence in the tech news arena anymore.

    The best thing they could do is post the story with an impartial, emotionally-detached summary, add a disclaimer that Slashdot Media also owns SourceForge, and leave it at that. By pretending that it doesn't exist when most people are now clearly aware of the link between Slashdot and SourceForge just makes Slashdot look like a bunch of prissy kids.

  28. Amazon Prime will be the death of Us all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If these labs ever setup an Amazon Store selling Anthrax detector "test" powder it could go viral.

  29. Well this is bad. by Zalbik · · Score: 1

    Great, Now we're at war with SOUTH Korea and are all going to die of anthrax.

    Thanks Obama

  30. No worries Darwinism is on the Job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Self selecting themselves out of the Gene pool will lead to a healthier lab population.

  31. Posting on /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is like clapping with one hand.

  32. Love how headlines have evolved over the day... by Frobnicator · · Score: 1

    I absolutely love the example of how news reports represent things.

    This morning they started out "Live anthrax shipped to nine labs and Korea". The quotes talk about an abundance of caution and that spores were "detected". Since I happen to have read about it before, I already knew live anthrax is already shipped around the world in sheep and other livestock. So I wondered why the media would be on this so much.

    Later in the day, different headlines "Live anthrax detected in possibly ten labs".

    Now at the end of the day, different headlines, "Live anthrax detected in a single shipment, others under investigation", with details "the containers were properly packed and there is no risk of exposure to anyone but those on the base; all military personnel are given anthrax vaccinations when they join the service..."

    The latest news stories have the base commander saying procedures were followed and the CDC saying it was only one sample that was mostly, but not completely, sanitized by irradiation, so the few live spores continued to grow.

    While anthrax is potentially deadly, so are diseases like influenza. Anthrax is common in lots of animals, including livestock around the world. It is only when the bacteria is weaponized into an aerosol that it becomes extremely deadly. And this stuff wasn't.

    Lots of hype about a virtually non-issue. End result is the protocol gets adjusted, run it through the irradiation machine three times.

    --
    //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
  33. Now no right to to condem the Soviets by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    lack of nuclear safe guards, and it's very close to the same thing.

    But we will (and should), as if nothing had happened.

    1. Re:Now no right to to condem the Soviets by catmistake · · Score: 1

      Have you seen the Soviet's bio-weopons program? Its a bunch of old refridgerators filled with tupperware of plague, tuleremia, anthrax, etc. Its not locked or guarded or anything. I think we can safely continue to condemn the Soviets.

    2. Re:Now no right to to condem the Soviets by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      Have you seen the Soviet's bio-weopons program? Its a bunch of old refridgerators filled with tupperware of plague, tuleremia, anthrax, etc. Its not locked or guarded or anything. I think we can safely continue to condemn the Soviets.

      No, can't say I have, yet certainly expected a level of expertise behind them

    3. Re:Now no right to to condem the Soviets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    4. Re:Now no right to to condem the Soviets by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      http://www.rense.com/general20/hugestocksAL.htm

      Read the article, it seems a filler as it comes to no conclusion. I copied pertinent info to me, with some notes but nothing extreme.

      Out of context quotes from the article:

      "Newsweek International - this threw me but it's Newsweek, International news a reputable mag.

      "As far as anybody knows, no such theft ever occurred at the institute..."

      "But keeping close track of pathogen cultures is next to impossible, even for the most tightly run lab."

      "the Big Fear-the one driving President George W. Bush's most important decisions and dire pronouncements-is that a terrorist group like Al Qaeda will eventually get its hands on weapons of mass destruction." (was he ever right?)

      "Documents recovered from Qaeda safe houses and camps in Afghanistan "show that bin Laden was pursuing a sophisticated biological weapons research program,"
      -Apparently they can't even grow castor beans.

      "According to U.S. intelligence reports, some Russian experts traveled to Kandahar for job interviews with unidentified Qaeda leaders. Intelligence officials believe the Russians turned down the chance to work for bin Laden, however, and by all accounts Al Qaeda's efforts to make or acquire bioweapons have gone nowhere."

      "So how worried should we be? At their peak, the Soviets probably employed upwards of 60, 000 people on bioweapons projects, which produced a greater volume and variety of deadly agents than any other country. When Ken Alibek, a senior Soviet bioweapons official, defected in 1992, he described a staggering offensive bioweapons production"

      "Not everyone agrees. It would be irresponsible for an expert like Smithson not to be concerned, but many respected specialists believe the numbers of unemployed bioweapons scientists are exaggerated. Alibek, the Soviet defector, has said that there are perhaps 100 former Soviet scientists capable of building a soup-to-nuts bioweapons factory. Western bioweapons experts put that figure higher-"the low hundreds,"

      "Two years ago the DOD began helping former Soviet bioweapons labs to beef up security. The institute in Alma-Ata, which houses cultures of nonweaponized, but still dangerous, germs, now boasts a 2.5-meter concrete wall topped with barbed wire. Two guards armed with stun guns and tear gas patrol the front and rear entrances."

      "U.S. officials have long worried about lax security at former Soviet bioweapons facilities. These concerns were heightened after the September 11 attacks. Select from the cities below to find out where bio-weapons agents are located in Russia:

      Kirov - Plague, Anthrax

      Koltsovo - Smallpox, Hemorrhagic fevers (including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa Viruses and others)

      Minsk - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Obninsk - Hemorrhagic fevers (including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa Viruses and others)

      Omutninsk - Plague, Tularemia

      Penza - Anthrax

      Rostov - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Samara - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Saratov - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Sergiyev Posad - Tularemia

      Stavropol - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      St. Petersberg - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Tbilisi - Hemorrhagic fevers (including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa Viruses and others)

      Volgograd - Anthrax, Tularemia, Plague

      Yekaterinburg - Tularemia, Botulism""

      Replace "biological weapons" with "Nuclear weapons" and the articles on that subject read the same.

      I guess the bottom line is if it's so freaking easy to acquire how come it hasn't been used yet?

  34. What I don't get!? by jjhues7676 · · Score: 1

    If chemical and bacterial warfare have been banned, the why do we still have it?

    1. Re: What I don't get!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You need it to make vaccines and countermeasures.

    2. Re:What I don't get!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Banning [thing] does not expunge [thing] from existence.

  35. Re:More info to read! by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 1

    Well, it's not only that he mischaracterized the attack on the WTC as "nuclear".

    He claims that pneumonic plague is 100% fatal even if treated.
    While very serious, pneumonic plague is treatable and not 100% fatal. I couldn't find a mortality rate when treated, but I found a reference that said "mortality significantly reduced if treatment starts at onset of symptoms."

    He also misunderstands smallpox. There were multiple strains of smallpox, one had a fatality rate of up to 30-35% the other had a fatality rate of 1%, though he was correct that different populations had different susceptibility.

    And these are the things I KNEW off the top of my head he got wrong. I'm sorry, but given his track record compared to things I knew already and to what I could find with a teeny bit of research, this guy is completely an unreliable source of information.

    --PM

  36. Re:More info to read! by hamsterz1 · · Score: 1

    OK you have a good point, check this out.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=30&v=fknMGEVUvyM).

  37. Re:More info to read! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know if mini-nukes were used or not,

    Dumbest shit I've heard yet this week. Do you actually think this is possible when any jackass with a Geiger counter could just walk up to anywhere near ground zero and see the radiation? You really think that is possible?

  38. Re:More info to read! by hamsterz1 · · Score: 1

    Also this is very interesting.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkaX5n3pfZE).

  39. bacteria less infectious than weaponized spores by peter303 · · Score: 1

    They still require mucus surface or wound. And they may have been partially weakened by the ineffective sterialization procedure.
    On the other hand spores, enhanced by a combined aerosol are mire effective infecting people. Apparantly fromthe 2001 incident, it takes a certain skill to do this.

  40. Re:More info to read! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eyewitness testimony is always the least reliable type of evidence. It's a shame people are convicted on it. Also, when a building is buckling and floors pancaking, the windows blowing out and other sounds will certainly sound like explosions. The Nuke part is laughable, any nuclear device would have left extreme levels of radiation. I haven't heard of any being detected. I guess "mini" is also open to interpretation but any single nuke would have take out the WTC in a manner more explosive than recorded that day.

  41. Re:Live Bullshit Shipped to SF Site Users by Slash by Khyber · · Score: 1

    " I'd wager the people who read Slashdot exclusively and don't hear anything from any other tech sites is vanishingly small nowadays."

    Yup. Slashdot has very few exclusives. To think they could keep this under wraps is bullshit.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.