"This Will Not Affect Our Way of Life" Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Tuesday October 9 8:08 PM ET (via Yahoo) Accompanying pictures with this Yahoo story were a Wall Street worker out for a break in the street, wearing a particle mask with his 3-piece button-down, and two FBI investigators in Florida doing decontamination in white hazard suits, respirators and masks. Let's all sing along now with the little Shrub and the Marine Corps Born Again Choir... "This Will Not Affect Our Way of Life.... la la la..." Rash of Anthrax Scares Hits United States By Jim Loney BOCA RATON, Fla. (Reuters) - A rash of anthrax scares flared on Tuesday in a country jittery over last month's anti-U.S. attacks as several hundred people in Florida's coastal city of Boca Raton were tested for contamination following a journalist's death from the disease. FBI investigators raked through the sealed-off headquarters of American Media Inc (AMI), publisher of the National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids, looking for clues after disease specialists said the bacterium that causes anthrax might be present in the building. ``We are still looking for the source. We really have nothing concrete right now,'' Judy Orihuela, spokeswoman for the FBI's Miami office, told Reuters. Asked if officials suspected the contamination was a criminal act, she said: ``We've got to find the source before we can determine if it's criminal. We just don't know.'' Robert Stevens, a photo editor for AMI publication the Sun, died on Friday of a rare form of anthrax. A second man, mailroom employee Ernesto Blanco, has been exposed to the disease but has not contracted it. He is now in a Miami hospital. Florida health officials said they had still not determined if the anthrax strain was natural or engineered -- a fact which could help to decide if the contamination was a criminal act. Asked at a briefing if they had ruled out a terrorist action, Palm Beach County Health Department Director Jean Malecki said: ``We are open to the possibility of anything. We've not dismissed anything.'' The cases of anthrax -- a very rare disease that experts say can be used as a biological warfare agent -- has caused anxiety among a public still nervous over the Sept. 11 attacks allegedly masterminded by Muslim militant Osama bin Laden. More than 5,500 people were killed in the attacks in which hijacked planes rammed into the Pentagon in Washington and the World Trade Center in New York. CALLS ABOUT SUSPICIOUS PACKAGES Amid fears of possible anthrax contamination, authorities also took precautionary measures isolating and treating people in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Kentucky. And with Floridians on edge, police and fire officials responded to a spate of calls from residents concerned about suspicious packages. Palm Beach County tested about 850 AMI employees and others who had worked in or visited the building, as well as their relatives, over Monday and Tuesday. Florida State Epidermist Steve Wiersma said the tests would be processed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Nasal swabs could take several days and blood tests longer but so far there had been no new cases, he said. The CDC said 15 of its specialists were in Florida to investigate the transmission route of the cases. The bacterial disease is spread by spores and generally confined to sheep, cattle, horses, goats and pigs. It is not contagious. There was a new scare at the Palm Beach Health Department while people awaited tests. Police cordoned it off and took away dust found in an envelope in a garbage bin. It was believed to be construction dust but would be checked by hazardous material experts, police said. In nearby Deerfield Beach, local fire chief Jim Mathie said his department received calls about suspicious packages in three separate incidents that turned out to be harmless. ``People are being overly cautious,'' Mathie said. ``I'm sure it has a lot to do with the anthrax.'' In Naples, on Florida's southwest coast, police closed two buildings housing the offices of a bank and a law firm after staff reported finding a white powdery substance in mail bins. About 80 people were evacuated and underwent a decontamination process, Naples police spokesman Victor Morales said. FBI agents took samples of the substance away for testing. SUBWAY SCARE In Washington, a Metro subway station was closed and 21 people were held in isolation after a fare dodger fired a gun and dropped a plastic bottle containing liquid. A Justice Department official said the incident involved a container of carpet cleaner and did not appear to be related to terrorism. In Virginia, a man who may have worked in a building owned by AMI was tested for anthrax on Monday after coming to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and signs of confusion. Doctors treated him with an antibiotic, rushed tests to health authorities and called the FBI. Tests showed he probably did not have anthrax. In Covington, Kentucky, an Internal Revenue Service center was shut for several hours and seven workers treated as a precaution after a powder was found in the mail room, police said. An envelope containing the powder was removed for study. The CDC said it had received frequent calls from Floridians worried about anthrax contamination. ``I think people just want more information, which is typical in a situation like this,'' a spokeswoman said. The CDC is advising callers to consult local health authorities or to visit its Web site at www.cdc.gov. ``It's out there, it's something to be concerned about. Just knowing that those guys lived in this area, who knows what they left behind?'' said Boca Raton resident Trisha Martin, referring to the men believed to have carried out the Sept. 11 attack. Debbie Duckworth, 37 a Globe copy editor, said, ''Everybody's just shocked. It's just surreal. It's like it's not happening.'' The AMI tabloids -- which specialize in a mix of celebrity scandal, sex and fantastic stories -- have published many items belittling the hijackers and bin Laden. The Globe said bin Laden had underdeveloped sex organs while The Enquirer promoted toilet paper printed with photos of his face. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-10.10.01-04:29:25-20393