Military

DATE=10/24/01

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=ANTHRAX FEARS

NUMBER=6-12518

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: U-S newspapers are publishing more editorials about the country's continuing anthrax scare.

We get a sampling of those editorial comments from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The military facility that processes White House mail is contaminated with anthrax spores, and thousands of postal and other government mailroom workers are being tested for possible infection.

And U-S newspapers are offering their editorial comments.

Take, for example, this editorial headline from the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. "Nation must prepare for bioterrorist attack."

VOICE: It took the horrendous act of war on September 11th, when more than five-thousand died in a single day ... for the United States to get serious about airport security. Before a fraction of that number die quietly in hospitals from anthrax or other bioterrorism attacks, it's time for the government to get serious about public health.

TEXT: The Christian Science Monitor appeals for calm, and has these suggestions for a nervous public in a nation making a transition.

VOICE: The attempt by terrorists to spread anthrax by mail has provided a second challenge for Americans to calmly take precautions in public life and guard against any future acts, which are designed to instill fear. That challenge requires rethinking the basics of how to run such public entities as the air transport system, security forces, and now one of the most venerable institutions, the U-S Postal Service, whose offices are in every American community. ... The nation is on a war footing, and as after previous wars, many institutions and old ways of doing things are bound to be transformed.

TEXT: The Sun in Baltimore, Maryland, has the same thoughts, expressed in somewhat different terms.

VOICE: With anthrax confirmed as the killer of two postal workers in Washington, Americans and their government can no longer think of bioterrorism as an abstraction. ... We are hurtling along the path of a new consciousness ... the enemy (is) operating far beyond the World Trade Center.

TEXT: The New York Times, pointing out that one postal worker was misdiagnosed for anthrax at a suburban Washington hospital the day before he died of it, adds:

VOICE: The one clear message from these postal incidents is that the Bush administration's plans to beef up (strengthen) the public health system to cope with bioterrorism are almost certainly inadequate.

TEXT: The national daily USA Today agrees with the New York Times that the medical community, both public and private, must quickly adapt to the new circumstances.

VOICE: Another day, another anthrax surprise. Public health authorities announced Tuesday that two more Washington, D-C, postal workers may have anthrax. That makes 14 suspected or confirmed cases in D-C and New Jersey. At the same time, the Secret Service found anthrax traces in an off-site White House mailroom

Which raises the question: Why does the health system keep getting surprised by the reach and seriousness of the anthrax attack? Mostly, it's because the threat is so new. This is the first time the public-health system has had to fight a deadly bacteria from a manufactured outbreak rather than a natural disease. Not surprisingly, there have been missteps as doctors, hospitals and public-health officials search for a footing that will protect public health without panicking the population.

But revamping the health system to expect the unexpected isn't likely to prove an easy task.

TEXT: The Washington Post laments how widespread the capital's disruption has been because of the menace, and ponders the economic effects of all this.

VOICE: Anthrax and the threat of anthrax have had a profound effect on the nation's capital, even beyond the deaths and illnesses. The bioterrorism shut down Congress and has knocked the mail system for a loop, (dramatically disorganized and slowed it) at least in this area. Businesses and government offices are having to adjust, and the economic toll of adjustment will be large. The next biological or chemical attack could claim many more lives. But this one, no matter who is ultimately ... responsible, has been enough to remind us of the folly of allowing such weapons to fall into the hands of malevolent despots abroad and of the need for more vigilance at home.

TEXT: Despite everything, stay calm pleads The Orlando (Florida) Sentinel:

VOICE: Fear and ignorance breed mistrust and panic. That's what the terrorists want from Americans. And that's what Americans must resist. As reports of anthrax contamination spread through the nation's capital ... the anxiety is palpable. ... (But) this is a nation of great minds and a wealth of resources now devoted to combating terrorist threats. Americans should have faith in its assets.

TEXT: In Connecticut, the Waterbury Republican-American says that while the nation is preoccupied with anthrax, this is also influenza season, a disease predicted to kill about 67-thousand Americans this winter. And a disease which has symptoms very similar to the early stages of inhaled anthrax. The Republican-American advises everyone to get a flu shot.

In Florida, the Palm Beach Post wants the federal government to spend more money to fight bioterrorism, and in Iowa, the Des Moines Register worries about smallpox, a far worse agent for bioterrorism it says, that was essentially eradicated worldwide more than two decades ago, but still exists in laboratories. In Portland, the Oregonian comments on a mock bioterrorism exercise called 'Dark Winter,' carried out before September's terrorist attack. It found, says the newspaper, "the country is dramatically under-prepared for a major bioterrorism attack."

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this editorial sampling from U-S newspaper editorials on the anthrax scare in the United States.

NEB/ANG/JWH