04-25-2010, 08:06 PM
(04-25-2010, 07:26 PM)LavCat Wrote: Hmm. I work in the library of a small, quiet town (population about 750). No police force, not much crime except for speeding. It's been called "a one horse town," but there are more horses here than that. People are friendly. Just yesterday the letter carrier handed me the mail and his movies to return. One would not expect an anthrax attack here but there was. The little post office down the street from the library had to be closed and decontaminated.
Consider the repercussions if the decision were made not to close the building and people started coming down with anthrax.
The fact is that obtaining anthrax is so difficult that the only suspects can be mad scientists.
If shutting down a building for a day doesn't cost anything I would agree with you but if people start mailing powder letters around every day, the costs would be so huge that you could raise the wealth of several African countries to first world standards, and paying for the new Obama health care bill.
Apart from the fact that I don't believe your story (until I see it on CNN) there are so many easier and cheaper ways to harm people if you want to.
Plus, if you are a real terrorist and not a mad scientist you don't mail anthrax but you hide it in an office building giving the disease time to spread. E.g. putting some powder next to the powder milk jar.
So do you still agree we should close down a building every time we see some powder lying next to the powdered milk jar? Or for that matter if everything seems normal? A well trained terrorist should be able to hide something in your office without you seeing it.