The recent article, “Pentagon: Military mistakenly shipped live anthrax,” (May 28), is at the least, most alarming. How is it possible that a most prestigious government facility -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- inadvertently shipped live anthrax spores to some nine state laboratories, including to an air base in South Korea, which were expecting dead non-virulent spores for apparently laboratory evaluation? Instead these laboratories found samples of live pathogenic bacteria present.

Fortunately, no one was exposed. Anthrax is caused by anaerobic bacteria and has been studied by several countries as a biological weapon. Why the CDC laboratories did not ensure that no live spores were present before shipment, certainly does not speak well of the expertise of this most highly regarded government laboratory. Most any laboratory would have techniques in place to ensure the safety of any possible biological disorder concerning this matter. CDC personnel should be reprimanded and the agency must ensure that errors of this importance are not repeated.

Donald E. Leone Sr.

Norwich