Anthrax mail
Soon after the 11 September 2001 attacks, letters containing anthrax began turning up in the US mail. The FBI says: "Five Americans were killed and 17 were sickened in what became the worst biological attacks in U.S. history." The FBI's investigation was code-named "Amerithrax". In August 2008 the Department of Justice and the FBI said charges were about to be brought against Dr Bruce Ivins, a scientist at a US Army laboratory, but he took his own life before they could be filed. The investigation was formally closed on 19 February 2010.
Australia had a large number of hoaxes and scares at the same time. The Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Professor Richard Smallwood, wrote in November 2001: "Despite the high number of white powder incidents reported in the Australian media no anthrax spores have been detected in any of the samples tested and there have been no cases of anthrax."
The NSW Department of Health recorded about 990 "white powder" incidents reported to emergency services in NSW between 11 October and 16 November 2001. Samples from 535 of those incidents were tested, and "No positive result for Bacillus anthracis was identified." The report says: "Police estimated that about one third were hoaxes." It describes the first publicised Sydney incident as one at Kingsford Smith Airport on 14 October 2001.
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