subgenius
27th May 2003, 03:16 PM
Ft. Detrick Unearths Hazardous Surprises
Cleanup Finds Debris Of Biological Warfare
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 27, 2003; Page B01
Two years of digging at the U.S. Army's Fort Detrick in Frederick has unearthed more than 2,000 tons of hazardous waste -- including vials of live bacteria and nonvirulent anthrax that the military did not know was buried there, Detrick officials said.
...
When digging began in April 2001, the Army expected to find mostly lab chemicals, debris and incinerator ash. But little more than one foot down, the bulldozers hit upon corroded drums of herbicides and unidentified chemicals, syringes, lab instruments and strange substances mixed with the dirt. They plucked out 50 pressurized cylinders of gases and liquids that still await analysis. Four dissected laboratory rats appeared, still floating in jars of formaldehyde at least 30 years old.
But what the Army least expected to find were tiny vials of live bacteria like Brucella melitensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bacillus anthracis -- a nonvirulent form of the anthrax bacterium, the potent form of which was brewed by the gallon at Fort Detrick until 1969.
"The documentation for where this came from doesn't exist," said Lt. Col. Donald Archibald, Fort Detrick's director of safety, environment and integrated planning.
....
Meanwhile, Fort Detrick is searching for other uncharted dumps.
"You never know what's there until you start digging," Ball said. "We've generally ruled out finding a nuclear weapon."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42036-2003May26.html
But you never know.
:eek:
Cleanup Finds Debris Of Biological Warfare
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 27, 2003; Page B01
Two years of digging at the U.S. Army's Fort Detrick in Frederick has unearthed more than 2,000 tons of hazardous waste -- including vials of live bacteria and nonvirulent anthrax that the military did not know was buried there, Detrick officials said.
...
When digging began in April 2001, the Army expected to find mostly lab chemicals, debris and incinerator ash. But little more than one foot down, the bulldozers hit upon corroded drums of herbicides and unidentified chemicals, syringes, lab instruments and strange substances mixed with the dirt. They plucked out 50 pressurized cylinders of gases and liquids that still await analysis. Four dissected laboratory rats appeared, still floating in jars of formaldehyde at least 30 years old.
But what the Army least expected to find were tiny vials of live bacteria like Brucella melitensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bacillus anthracis -- a nonvirulent form of the anthrax bacterium, the potent form of which was brewed by the gallon at Fort Detrick until 1969.
"The documentation for where this came from doesn't exist," said Lt. Col. Donald Archibald, Fort Detrick's director of safety, environment and integrated planning.
....
Meanwhile, Fort Detrick is searching for other uncharted dumps.
"You never know what's there until you start digging," Ball said. "We've generally ruled out finding a nuclear weapon."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42036-2003May26.html
But you never know.
:eek: