WASHINGTON
The Pentagon inadvertently sent live anthrax samples to nine different labs across the U.S., as well as a U.S. air base in Korea, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The samples came from a Defense Department lab in Dugway, Utah, according to Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren.
“The DoD lab was working as part of a DoD effort to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats in the environment,” Warren said in a statement, using the acronym for the Department of Defense.
“There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers,” he added.
Another sample was sent to the Joint United States Forces Korea Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition Program at Osan Air Base, located 64 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital Seoul, Warren said.
“The sample was destroyed in accordance with appropriate protocols," he said.
Anthrax is “a serious infectious disease,” according to the Centers for Disease Control, which says that it can enter the body through skin contact, breathing, eating or injection.
The deadly agent can be used as a bioweapon, and has been the subject of several security scares in the U.S. after letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to news organizations and two Senators shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Five people were killed and 17 were injured, according to the FBI.
