NBC News featured a piece tonight on the government's preparation for biological terrorism. Lots of pictures of military personnel in the cities in BIOWAR garb. They said smallpox has a high potential of being used because almost no one in the US has been vaccinated since the 70's and their is currently only enough vaccine in the country for a few million people.

Seems like I read something somewhere that said some strains of the smallpox virus have muted so much since then the current vaccines would not be effective. Anybody recall that?

Also, has anyone here been vaccinated? Has anyone bought iodine tablets for potential nuclear accidents/terrorism? Can I just drink a glass of water with a drop of iodine (warning: deadly poison) in an emergency?

-- a (a@a.a), January 22, 1999

Answers

It seems that a few years ago there was a big news story about the debate on whether the Center for Disease Control should destroy the last remaining smallpox virus on earth which was in cold storage at CDC. Someone fill me in. Where would the terrorist virus come from? Did Russia or someone keep some in storage? I have heard periodic reports aobut the theoretical possibility of smallpox being released from frozen corpses which are from time to time unearthed in Siberia and other permafrost areas, but I never heard of that actually happening.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), January 22, 1999.

The story said there were several areas in Russia that still have periodic outbreaks.

-- a (a@a.a), January 22, 1999.

I dont know about smallpox, but you can get potassium iodide Thyro-block tablets "to be used in radiation emergency only" from Wallace Lab in Cranbury, NJ. Also available in numerous survival catalogs. sophia

-- sophia compton (scompton@athenians.com), January 22, 1999.

It is potassium Iodade, not iodine. Usually runs $20-$25.00 a bottle of 100. Take one pill daily.

-- doc (Navy@Medic.com), January 22, 1999.

One of the benefits of the English "welfare state" is we were all innoculated up the kazoo :)

TB is making a big resurgence in the cities in the USA. It is rampant in Russia.

Its a trusim that the USA has more than pissed off many other countries - not just the Islamic world. it's just a question of how and where the US (and England) will reap a pay-back.

Apart from the obvious, look for attacks in january 2000 at infrastructure targets that are already in trouble e.g. Rail lines in the boonies being blown up, electricity lines likewise etc.etc.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 22, 1999.

a,

I did buy potassium iodide solution for my family; my children especially. I preceive a real danger from terrorists with nuclear weapons and I see potential for nuclear accidents at plants.

There's nothing very near me, either target-wise or nuclear plant-wise but I'm really, really paranoid these days.

-- Franklin Journier (ready4y2k@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999.

Does anybody know if it is true that blankets contaminated with smallpox were given to American Natives by the pilgrims? Was told that but have not seen it in writing. Are certain ethnicities more susceptible? There was a recent report about genetically engineered biological/chemical warfare being developed and tested to target specific populations. This seems incredibly gross to me, and it would be great if Y2K knocked that type of "progress" out a few decades. Guess with all that "ethnic cleansing" this was bound to arrive. But every race has made enemies; who would be safe?

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 22, 1999.

Leska:

As far as I've ever been able to determine, that story about the Pilgrims and blankets is a myth. Fact is, when the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, there weren't any Indians for 70 miles around - a plague (not specified in the sources I read) had decimated their population two years previously. This also neatly debunks the myth that the Pilgrims would've starved the first year without the assistance of the Indians... they're weren't any around until several years later.

-- Why2K? (who@knows.com), January 23, 1999.

Why2K, thank you, glad to hear that. Was hoping early Americans did not create that bad bad karma. Don't want 2000 to be payback time for biological massacres.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 23, 1999.

I'm beginning to think I've become vewy vewy paranoid.

When I read news stories like this, the first thought that occurs to me goes something like this.......

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Gov't "manufacture" or orchestrate a few crisis' or emergencies to facilitate certain plans. If there was suddenly news of an outbreak of some horrible disease such as smallpox, wouldn't that be a great opportunity to control large sections of cities? Wouldn't people willingly stay home, out of large crowds? It would certainly be an easy way of crowd control......or of preventing a crowd from forming.

First we were fed some sound bites of threats of terrorism, and cyber-terrorism. Next came news of the National Guard preparations, and military anti-terrorist training in numerous cities. Then a few stories of anthrax scares....one in Los Angeles caught my attention. I believe it was 91 people were held for 8 hours or so while the building was tested, and the people were screened. The part I found interesting was that they dressed the people in containment suits......amazing that they just happened to have almost 100 suits available on a moments notice in downtown LA....

Terrorist threats have been around for years, and I do take them seriously......but why the sudden outburst of gov't announcements about them? And why the military training etc., but no greatly increased security at our borders and airports? That would be the first step I would think...

*sigh* I've either gone off the deep end, or I've read one too many posts on Martial Law.......

I wonder where the Sheila I used to be went? She was a hell of a lot of fun.......

-- Sheila (sross@bconnex.net), January 23, 1999.

She's still there! -- just fun in hell ;-)

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 23, 1999.

The story about the smallpox and blankets is partially true. However, it wasn't the pilgrims, but later immigrants from Europe (can't remember which ethnicities, as if it mattered), about the time they were still debating as to whether the indians even had souls. Anyway, i believe that there are 3 sites (2 in us, and 1 in russia) who still have smallpox in cold storage, which may be part of the reason the last samples haven't been destroyed yet (you go first, no you go first, and such) Certain ethnicities are most certainly more sucseptible. Or were. After more than 20 years without a reported wild case of smallpox (i think the last reported case was about 1974), maybe we all would be just as sucseptable. Anyway, the europeans and old worlders had been exposed to smallpox for centuries, and while it was still a deadly disease for them, it wasn't nearly as virulent for them as it was for the native americans. The same theory holds just as true the other way around. Syphilus was originally a new world disease that wasn't nearly as virulent for new worlders, but when it got brought back to Europe...!! Anyway, i think they stopped vaccinating for smallpox here in the us about 1972, so anyone after that isn't even vaccinated. But, if someone wanted to release a nasty disease, there are so many to choose from nowadays, that's probably the least of the things to worry about.

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), January 23, 1999.