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COVER STORY: BIOTERRORISM
Spore Response
The Government gears up to counter biological and
chemical weapon attacks
By Supriya Bezbaruah
Apalpable undercurrent
of fear runs through Mumbai's large postal sorting office near the domestic
airport. But for the tell-tale signs of canvas mailbags and letters, the
once buzzing place could be mistaken for an operating theatre. In spite
of the warm weather, postal workers don rubber gloves and surgical face
masks before solemnly going about their daily task-sorting the million-odd
pieces of foreign mail that the city receives each day. "We're scared,"
says section superintendent S.M. Joshi bluntly. Delhi, Kolkata, and other
cities witness similar scenes and apprehensions.
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ADEQUATE PROTECTION? Mailmen at the international post office,
Delhi
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The fear is of anthrax, a usually rare bacterial
disease that claimed the lives of two postal workers in the US. The pair,
suspected to be victims of a terrorist "bio-attack", unknowingly
inhaled powder mixed with anthrax spores present in envelopes they were
sorting. Following the events in the US, "suspicious" packages
have appeared around the world, keeping governments on the edge, and sending
pranksters into gleeful overdrive. In India, victims range from Union
Home Minister L.K. Advani and Family Welfare Secretary A.R. Nanda to villagers
in remote areas.
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Hospitals have been alerted
and labs are being upgraded to face the threat.
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In less sensitive times, the incidents would
have amounted to a black comedy. In Kolkata, Chief Minister Buddhadev
Bhattacharya's office received envelopes with white powder and a note
that said, "Sorry, you have just been attacked with anthrax. Thank
you." and signed "cimi". The letter contained nothing more
insidious than talcum powder. Chandigarh Mayor Harjinder Kaur received
a packet of a powdery substance with the message, "You are going
to die. This is anthrax-Bin Laden." Says an exasperated police official
in Chandigarh: "The real threat has been reduced to a prank."
If caught, pranksters could be sent to prison for six months as provided
for by Chapter 14 of the Indian Penal Code.
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SCARY MAIL: US President George Bush after anthrax was found
at a mail facility
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In Hyderabad, high court judge Motilal Naik complained
to city Police Commissioner P. Ramulu about a suspicious white powder
in a magazine. Chennai resident Nagaraj Prasad was also frightened when
he found some powder on a magazine. Investigations revealed chalk powder,
used to prevent the pages of the magazine from sticking together. In the
past week, more than a hundred packages from across the country have been
sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi,
the nodal agency for testing for anthrax. More than 50 have been tested,
and proved negative. That includes the letter to the home minister. But
as Prasad says, "It is only natural that we suspect everything in
such scary circumstances."
Therein lies the danger. Anthrax, as Union Health
Minister C.P. Thakur reassures the nation through ad campaigns, is curable
and non-contagious. Panic, however, spreads rapidly and is far less easy
to contain. "And once the public gets panicky, it is difficult to
implement anything," points out V. Aatre, secretary, Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO), the key agency for defence against
chemical and biological warfare. But in the current atmosphere, everyday
substances such as specks of talcum powder, chalk, even ashes or dust,
are suddenly being viewed as ominous agents of terror. The threat of bioterrorism,
however, is real. "There's no need for panic, but people must remain
alert," insists K.K. Dutta, director, NICD.
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