Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says the Army's mistaken shipments of live anthrax were more widespread than it initially reported.
In a statement issued Friday evening, the department says 24 laboratories in 11 states and two foreign countries — South Korea and Australia — are believed to have received suspect anthrax samples.
The broadening scope of the problem suggests more extensive flaws in procedures used by the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The anthrax samples were supposed to be made fully inert before they were shipped. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work has ordered a comprehensive review of laboratory procedures associated with inactivating anthrax.
Dugway is located in a desolate stretch of the Utah desert. Chemical weapons have been tested there since the facility opened in 1942.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is testing to see which anthrax samples were live. The first full set of findings isn't expected until next week.
%@AP Links
APPHOTO UTJU101: FILE - This Jan. 27, 2010, file photo, shows the main gate at Dugway Proving Ground military base, about 85 miles southwest Salt Lake City, Utah. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is investigating what the Pentagon called an inadvertent shipment of live anthrax spores to government and commercial laboratories in as many as nine states, as well as one overseas, that expected to receive dead spores. A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said the suspected live anthrax samples were shipped from Dugway Proving Ground, an Army facility, using a commercial delivery service. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart, File) (27 Jan 2011)
<<APPHOTO UTJU101 (01/27/11)££
APPHOTO SLC101: FILE - In this May 11, 2003, file photo, Microbiologist Ruth Bryan works with BG nerve agent simulant in Class III Glove Box in the Life Sciences Test Facility at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The specialized airtight enclosure is also used for hands-on work with anthrax and other deadly agents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is investigating what the Pentagon called an inadvertent shipment of live anthrax spores to government and commercial laboratories in as many as nine states, as well as one overseas, that expected to receive dead spores. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File) (28 May 2015)
<<APPHOTO SLC101 (05/28/15)££
APPHOTO UTSAL101: This Feb. 19, 2015 photo shows Referee Module No. 2 of the Whole System Live Agent Test at Dugway Proving Ground in Dugway, Utah. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating that aspect of what went wrong at Dugway Proving Ground, the Army installation in Utah that sent the anthrax to government and commercial labs in nine states across the U.S. and to an Army lab in South Korea. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT (18 Feb 2015)
<<APPHOTO UTSAL101 (02/18/15)££
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
