Anthrax Powder Fear Still Lingers

Anyone that watches terrorism news knows that on any given week, there could be 2 to 10 packages reported to contain a "suspicious powdery substance" - most of which are found to be harmless. When I first started to watch the terrorism news after 9/11, this really shocked me.

But now, I commonly skip over these reports...which is kinda scary when I think about it.

This lingering fear was first sparked by the 2001 anthrax attacks, also referred to as Amerithrax, which resulted in five deaths and a total of 22 infections. In reality, the physical damage suffered was minimal when compared to even a single car bomb. However, the psychological damage of these types of weapons is a very very powerful tool for terrorists.

In 2001, experts in the UK said that the fear of anthrax attack might be more harmful than the attacks themselves.

Now almost 7 years later, the fear lingers proving those experts correct.

12/10/2007
Suspicious envelope sparks road closure (Auckland, New Zealand)

12/7/2007
Black Powder in Envelope at Ninth & Congress Determined Harmless (Austin, TX)

12/4/2007
Immigration Office Gets White Powder In Envelope (Lincoln, NB)

This is just what we see in the public media, just imagine the cases which are never reported or those cases which are reported to less public places, like the FBI's Infragard.