Suspicious powder found in lab mail

A suspicious powdery substance was discovered Friday afternoon in a catalog mailed to Lewis Thomas Lab.

Two people were present in the room at the time of discovery. One of them opened the package. Information about either person was not available. The University offered both people antibiotics as a precaution against anthrax infection.

The catalog failed to meet the state criteria for suspicious mail and thus successfully passed through federal and University mail handlers, said Lauren Robinson-Brown '85, the University's communications director.

"[The catalog] was considered standard mail," she said. "It was mailed to a particular person [in the lab] and had the return address of a company," she said.

The catalog only raised concern when it was opened.

In response to the discovery of the powder, the University closed the room where the catalog was opened and called in an independent environmental safety team to analyze samples of the material for anthrax.

Robinson-Brown explained that the University used different precautions to handle this incident than it used when a suspicious letter was found in Robertson Hall. In that case, Trenton fire department's hazardous materials team investigated. "We used an independent team for two reasons," she said. "First of all, the state is backlogged."

Because the hazmat team is part of the fire department, many local cases have been sent to it for testing.

In addition, Robinson-Brown said: "The catalog did not fulfill the criteria for suspicious mail; so we would not have been a priority for [the hazmat team]."

"The independent team will get the results back to us much faster [than the hazmat team]," she said, noting that the outcome could be known Tuesday.

Robinson-Brown said the Lewis Thomas lab does not have "the full set-up" to grow anthrax.

"The University made a decision a long time ago not to participate in such activity," she said.

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This occurrence is the third anthrax scare on campus. Though the past two incidents, in the First Campus Center and Roberston Hall, were false alarms, Robinson-Brown said the administration can never assume such alarms are false.

"We still have to take it seriously and hope that the tests are negative," she said.