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Tests Show Tacoma Substance Not Toxic
Aired April 22, 2003 - 13:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the toxin scare in Tacoma. Authorities in Washington State are awaiting results of additional tests on a powdery substance discovered at a mail distribution center. Initial tests suggested something serious, but more extensive testing has shown the substance is not toxic.
For the very latest, we turn to Arturo Santiago of CNN affiliate KING in Washington. He's been following the story -- Arturo.
ARTURO SANTIAGO, KING CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, they have run -- they are running about five tests on the substance, and the people running the tests are with the National Guard here in Washington state. They are with the civil service command unit. So they have run four of those five tests. Four of those tests have come up negative so far.
This all started here at the U.S. post office distribution plant in Tacoma, Washington. During the overnight hours, we had a couple of employees that were stamping letters "postage due," and in the middle of stamping those letters, they noticed that there was a brown substance. What they did at that point was they isolated the material, they called their supervisor in. The supervisor then called the fire department. The fire department came on the scene and called in the hazardous materials unit here in Tacoma. They ran some initial tests, and their tests showed that there was some sort of biotoxin that was present in this substance.
So at that point in, that's when they called in the National Guard, who has a little bit more sophisticated and more accurate testing system. They're in the process now this morning of finishing up those tests, and again, as I said, four of those five tests have been completed, and four of those tests have come up negative -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Arturo Santiago of CNN affiliate KING. Thank you so much. Now, as Arturo mentioned, many agencies, government agencies, were brought into the mix when this toxic scare first took place, including the Homeland Security Department.
Our Jeanne Meserve on the phone now from Washington to tell us the role that it played, and how it gauged what was happening in Tacoma -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, let me tell you, first, about that. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security say a biotoxin has already been ruled out in this case. Samples of this were taken to a laboratory. Tests were done there. They say it is not what was first feared. That is, botulinum toxin or plague, that it is nothing that is biotoxic. Further testing is going to be done on this material to figure out exactly what it is. The CDC is going to be involved in that effort, I am told. Part of the purpose of doing this is to figure out who might have sent this substance, and what their intent was, and whether there should be some further investigation, and perhaps somewhere down the line, even a prosecution.
In addition, I want to add that a powdery substance was also found today at a Federal Express facility in Fort Myers, Florida. Very preliminary field tests down there also came back negative. This is not a biotoxin either. So I should emphasize that some of these field testing kits are not reliable. In fact, they're known for their unreliability. One expert had told us that, in fact, they prefer to have tests that give them false positives because if they get a false negative, they might ignore something that would later turn out to have been hazardous. So they're erring on the side of caution at this particular point in time as they try to develop better technology for dealing with these sorts of situations -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, on the phone with us from Washington. Thanks, Jeanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 22, 2003 - 13:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the toxin scare in Tacoma. Authorities in Washington State are awaiting results of additional tests on a powdery substance discovered at a mail distribution center. Initial tests suggested something serious, but more extensive testing has shown the substance is not toxic.
For the very latest, we turn to Arturo Santiago of CNN affiliate KING in Washington. He's been following the story -- Arturo.
ARTURO SANTIAGO, KING CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, they have run -- they are running about five tests on the substance, and the people running the tests are with the National Guard here in Washington state. They are with the civil service command unit. So they have run four of those five tests. Four of those tests have come up negative so far.
This all started here at the U.S. post office distribution plant in Tacoma, Washington. During the overnight hours, we had a couple of employees that were stamping letters "postage due," and in the middle of stamping those letters, they noticed that there was a brown substance. What they did at that point was they isolated the material, they called their supervisor in. The supervisor then called the fire department. The fire department came on the scene and called in the hazardous materials unit here in Tacoma. They ran some initial tests, and their tests showed that there was some sort of biotoxin that was present in this substance.
So at that point in, that's when they called in the National Guard, who has a little bit more sophisticated and more accurate testing system. They're in the process now this morning of finishing up those tests, and again, as I said, four of those five tests have been completed, and four of those tests have come up negative -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Arturo Santiago of CNN affiliate KING. Thank you so much. Now, as Arturo mentioned, many agencies, government agencies, were brought into the mix when this toxic scare first took place, including the Homeland Security Department.
Our Jeanne Meserve on the phone now from Washington to tell us the role that it played, and how it gauged what was happening in Tacoma -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, let me tell you, first, about that. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security say a biotoxin has already been ruled out in this case. Samples of this were taken to a laboratory. Tests were done there. They say it is not what was first feared. That is, botulinum toxin or plague, that it is nothing that is biotoxic. Further testing is going to be done on this material to figure out exactly what it is. The CDC is going to be involved in that effort, I am told. Part of the purpose of doing this is to figure out who might have sent this substance, and what their intent was, and whether there should be some further investigation, and perhaps somewhere down the line, even a prosecution.
In addition, I want to add that a powdery substance was also found today at a Federal Express facility in Fort Myers, Florida. Very preliminary field tests down there also came back negative. This is not a biotoxin either. So I should emphasize that some of these field testing kits are not reliable. In fact, they're known for their unreliability. One expert had told us that, in fact, they prefer to have tests that give them false positives because if they get a false negative, they might ignore something that would later turn out to have been hazardous. So they're erring on the side of caution at this particular point in time as they try to develop better technology for dealing with these sorts of situations -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, on the phone with us from Washington. Thanks, Jeanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
