State mailroom closed
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – A “tentative” test shows a letter containing a suspicious powder sent to the state government is not anthrax, Florida’s top law enforcement official said Thursday.
The state Department of Health has a “tentative negative test” for anthrax, Gerald Bailey, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said. Florida was one of nine states and the U.S. Virgin Islands to receive a suspicious envelope sent to government offices. A dozen other states received similar mailings earlier in the week.
In all but a handful of cases, tests indicate the powders are harmless. Results are pending in the remainder of cases.
Bailey said the Florida powder has been sent to a Jacksonville lab for further testing that will take a day.
As a precaution, the state government’s mail processing center was closed and processed as a crime scene. Two employees were also taken to the hospital as a precaution. The FBI has taken over the investigation, Bailey said.
Anthrax mailed to Washington lawmakers and media outlets killed five people and sickened 17 just weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Periodic hoaxes have popped up since.