Rumor Mill: Al Queda operative obtains bio-weapon material from research lab in N.O.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rumor Mill: Al Queda operative obtains bio-weapon material from research lab in N.O. (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:37:25 AM EDT

A reliable source out of south Florida reports that Al Queda has recently obtained biologicals from a top secret bio-weapons development lab that is located in New Orleans. After the flooding and looting, Al Queda operatives utilized the opportunity to break into the lab and, it is believed, they obtained Small Pox virus, plague, AIDS-derived virus that is immune to current treatment technology and an unidentified strain of Ebola (Hemmoragic variety).

Citizens are to immediately contact the Center for Disease Control located in Atlanta, GA in the event of unexplained/unexpected multiple deaths occur in your community.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:40:26 AM EDT

[#1]

is this legit?

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:40:27 AM EDT

[#2]

I seriously, seriously doubt that rumor is true.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:43:45 AM EDT

[#3]

I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:46:24 AM EDT

[#4]

ABC News: NJ man of Asian descent was diagnosed today with a rare case of tuberculosis. More details to follow at 6pm. So how's the traffic Chip?

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:46:30 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
I seriously, seriously doubt that rumor is true.

+1.

This is how rumors get started.

"I saw it on the internet..."

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:46:57 AM EDT

[#6]

Getting access into labs with such nasties would be very tough. The BeerSlayer has mentioned this before as he worked at Ft Detrick.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:47:45 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
A reliable source out of south Florida reports that Al Queda has recently obtained biologicals from a top secret bio-weapons development lab that is located in New Orleans. After the flooding and looting, Al Queda operatives utilized the opportunity to break into the lab and, it is believed, they obtained Small Pox virus, plague, AIDS-derived virus that is immune to current treatment technology and an unidentified strain of Ebola (Hemmoragic variety).

Citizens are to immediately contact the Center for Disease Control located in Atlanta, GA in the event of unexplained/unexpected multiple deaths occur in your community.

I know you all didn't know this, but high winds and water levels over 3 feet deep make once TOP SECRET facilities, into well known non-Top Secret facilities.

Area 51 almost turned into a regional SW Airlines hub a few years ago due to heavy rains.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:48:51 AM EDT

[#8]

They could have probably gotten most of that by simply filling a few jugs with street water.

I would have though that most of the labs that work with especially dangerous strains of viruses would be located somewhere other than in a big city.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:50:32 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
A reliable source out of south Florida reports that Al Queda has recently obtained biologicals from a top secret bio-weapons development lab that is located in New Orleans. After the flooding and looting, Al Queda operatives utilized the opportunity to break into the lab and, it is believed, they obtained Small Pox virus, plague, AIDS-derived virus that is immune to current treatment technology and an unidentified strain of Ebola (Hemmoragic variety).

I nominate this for "Stupidest Post on ARFCOM this year".

I mean if you're going to make crap up at least do it right so it sounds beleivable.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:52:45 AM EDT

[#10]

dunno for sure. i live in atlanta. supposedly the cdc here has smallpox virus. there was once a discussion of where smallpox samples were kept. one was cdc i think. some place in russia. very few places keep the virus world wide

i would be very suprised to find out there was a biolab in NO that was just abandoned and that al qaeda know about it.. and broke in.. and we found out in detail.. and reported it in the news as legit..

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:53:48 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

LOL

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:54:07 AM EDT

[#12]

Why the hell would the US locate a "top secret bio weapons research lab" in New Orleans?

They have neither the military, academic, or medical infrastructure to support it.

Proximity to large numbers of people also comes to mind as a negative.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:56:12 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

Posted: 9/15/2005 9:58:29 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
I would have though that most of the labs that work with especially dangerous strains of viruses would be located somewhere other than in a big city.

Like the CDC in Atlanta?

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:05:23 AM EDT

[#15]

It seems to me I read something a couple years ago about the last remaining samples of one of those diseases (smallpox?) being destroyed.

Do any of you remember that?

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:05:27 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
A reliable source out of south Florida... .

Stop right there... how does a source get information on supposed Al Qaeda operations in NO... The Al Qaeda double top secret what I did today blog?

Why would an Al Qaeda operative be telling anyone on the outside they had this stuff before they used it...

Should have pegged your bullshit meter…

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:06:37 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I would have though that most of the labs that work with especially dangerous strains of viruses would be located somewhere other than in a big city.

Like the CDC in Atlanta?

i have always wondered about that but they do. supposedly the building is armoured and sort of like a vault (or series of vaults). there are lots of medical facilities here. it is not prone to earthquakes. and and lot (most) of the CDC's job is to deal with deseases world wide, not bioterrorism or bioweapons.

i have heard that the building is old and needs to be upgraded of fixed....

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:08:46 AM EDT

[#18]

We have at least 1 biolevel 3 lab here... AND the NSA.

Not sure if that's good or bad...

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:11:43 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Quoted:
A reliable source out of south Florida reports that Al Queda has recently obtained biologicals from a top secret bio-weapons development lab that is located in New Orleans. After the flooding and looting, Al Queda operatives utilized the opportunity to break into the lab and, it is believed, they obtained Small Pox virus, plague, AIDS-derived virus that is immune to current treatment technology and an unidentified strain of Ebola (Hemmoragic variety).

Citizens are to immediately contact the Center for Disease Control located in Atlanta, GA in the event of unexplained/unexpected multiple deaths occur in your community.

I know you all didn't know this, but high winds and water levels over 3 feet deep make once TOP SECRET facilities, into well known non-Top Secret facilities.

Area 51 almost turned into a regional SW Airlines hub a few years ago due to heavy rains.

Yup, that's officially funny!

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:13:01 AM EDT

[#20]

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:13:07 AM EDT

[#21]

My BS-o-meter is now pegged.

It's easier to obtain biological weapons outside of the US and smuggle them in than it is to find a biological weapon lab in the USA and there is no reason whatsoever that the US would weaponize biological agents in New Orleans, even if the USA did that sort of thing.

Closest place I know of that biological weapons were ever done is Pine Bluff Arsenal AR. They stopped in 1969.

Either way, even if there ever was a biological weapons development lab in NO, which there wasn't, never was, never will be, waiting for a hurricane to hit, then breaking in, stealing stuff, and getting out of the area without mutating into a giant sea cucumber is much harder than just buying it from one of the Stans.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:15:15 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
We have at least 1 biolevel 3 lab here... AND the NSA.

Not sure if that's good or bad...

Level 3 lab has stuff you can pick up in New Mexico. No big deal. Most pharmaceutical companies have a level 3 lab somewhere.

And NSA? Mostly a bunch of geeks with pocket protectors. I used to work for that bunch.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:15:39 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I would have though that most of the labs that work with especially dangerous strains of viruses would be located somewhere other than in a big city.

Like the CDC in Atlanta?

i have always wondered about that but they do. supposedly the building is armoured and sort of like a vault (or series of vaults). there are lots of medical facilities here. it is not prone to earthquakes. and and lot (most) of the CDC's job is to deal with deseases world wide, not bioterrorism or bioweapons.

i have heard that the building is old and needs to be upgraded of fixed....

Supposedly they have got at least one sample of all of the nastiest bugs on the planet there.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:27:44 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
We have at least 1 biolevel 3 lab here... AND the NSA.

NSA is into comms, not bioweapons.

Like KK7SM said mostly Engineer/Techy types.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:34:50 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

i have always wondered about that but they do. supposedly the building is armoured and sort of like a vault (or series of vaults). there are lots of medical facilities here. it is not prone to earthquakes. and and lot (most) of the CDC's job is to deal with deseases world wide, not bioterrorism or bioweapons.

i have heard that the building is old and needs to be upgraded of fixed....

Some of these labs are described in the book "The Hot Zone."

Check it out. It will give you a fresh appreciation for ebola.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:36:27 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:38:27 AM EDT

[#27]

Bullshit of the highest order.

But thanks for the fear-mongering anyway, jackass.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:40:13 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
My BS-o-meter is now pegged.

It's easier to obtain biological weapons outside of the US and smuggle them in than it is to find a biological weapon lab in the USA and there is no reason whatsoever that the US would weaponize biological agents in New Orleans, even if the USA did that sort of thing.

Closest place I know of that biological weapons were ever done is Pine Bluff Arsenal AR. They stopped in 1969.

Either way, even if there ever was a biological weapons development lab in NO, which there wasn't, never was, never will be, waiting for a hurricane to hit, then breaking in, stealing stuff, and getting out of the area without mutating into a giant sea cucumber is much harder than just buying it from one of the Stans.

Tulane had a bio research lab, but I am confident it was secured. I do not believe that they had smallpox, only the CDC and a lab in Russia has the smallpox virus, unless some folks managed to harvest it from dead bodies of folks who died from it and were buried near the artic circle.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:41:39 AM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
Bullshit of the highest order.

But thanks for the fear-mongering anyway, jackass.

having worked in the bl-4 suites at usamriid. and knowing the types of isolation and security in those labs in the 80's i will also call bullshit. "if" they got in they are currently seriously ill and will be easy to catch.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:42:59 AM EDT

[#30]

I am worried that Ophelia will damage Plum Island......

The only BSL5 site

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:43:04 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
Quoted:
My BS-o-meter is now pegged.

It's easier to obtain biological weapons outside of the US and smuggle them in than it is to find a biological weapon lab in the USA and there is no reason whatsoever that the US would weaponize biological agents in New Orleans, even if the USA did that sort of thing.

Closest place I know of that biological weapons were ever done is Pine Bluff Arsenal AR. They stopped in 1969.

Either way, even if there ever was a biological weapons development lab in NO, which there wasn't, never was, never will be, waiting for a hurricane to hit, then breaking in, stealing stuff, and getting out of the area without mutating into a giant sea cucumber is much harder than just buying it from one of the Stans.

Tulane had a bio research lab, but I am confident it was secured. I do not believe that they had smallpox, only the CDC and a lab in Russia has the smallpox virus, unless some folks managed to harvest it from dead bodies of folks who died from it and were buried near the artic circle.

those are NOT the only labs with smallpox virus.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:45:24 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I seriously, seriously doubt that rumor is true.

+1.

This is how rumors get started.

"I saw it on the internet..."

So, it is true?

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:46:14 AM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
My BS-o-meter is now pegged.

It's easier to obtain biological weapons outside of the US and smuggle them in than it is to find a biological weapon lab in the USA and there is no reason whatsoever that the US would weaponize biological agents in New Orleans, even if the USA did that sort of thing.

Closest place I know of that biological weapons were ever done is Pine Bluff Arsenal AR. They stopped in 1969.

Either way, even if there ever was a biological weapons development lab in NO, which there wasn't, never was, never will be, waiting for a hurricane to hit, then breaking in, stealing stuff, and getting out of the area without mutating into a giant sea cucumber is much harder than just buying it from one of the Stans.

Tulane had a bio research lab, but I am confident it was secured. I do not believe that they had smallpox, only the CDC and a lab in Russia has the smallpox virus, unless some folks managed to harvest it from dead bodies of folks who died from it and were buried near the artic circle.

those are NOT the only labs with smallpox virus.

Those are the only labs "the public" is told that have the smallpox virus. The truth may be different, it would not surprise me.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:51:13 AM EDT

[#34]

How does one evaluate a rumor without presentation of facts from an un-named source? Its just a rumor until someone provides some facts and evidence.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:53:11 AM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

This concept is crying out for a Photoshop job....

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:58:03 AM EDT

[#36]

I suspect the rumor (most rumors have -some- basis in fact) is based upon the story that Tulane was flooded, and that Tulane has a bio-research facility -- but this sort of facility, if it is like other facilities that I am familiar with, will have a very detailed disaster plan in place, a notebook-thick document that will have a very detailed step-by-step procedure to follow in the event of emergencies. The existence of the document/procedure is a precondition of the facility becoming operational.

Posted: 9/15/2005 10:59:23 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
I heard that the material was smuggled out in a tub full of Heineken Bottles.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:02:37 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
I am worried that Ophelia will damage Plum Island......

The only BSL5 site

Rest easy. Ophelia isn't much of a threat.

When it turned and missed Charleston I was actually a tad disappointed. A tropical storm or Cat 1 would provide a good training opportunity for family preparedness.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:05:04 AM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
I suspect the rumor (most rumors have -some- basis in fact) is based upon the story that Tulane was flooded, and that Tulane has a bio-research facility -- but this sort of facility, if it is like other facilities that I am familiar with, will have a very detailed disaster plan in place, a notebook-thick document that will have a very detailed step-by-step procedure to follow in the event of emergencies. The existence of the document/procedure is a precondition of the facility becoming operational.

The best propaganda mixes true information with lie to obfuscate the lie.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:07:59 AM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I am worried that Ophelia will damage Plum Island......

The only BSL5 site

Rest easy. Ophelia isn't much of a threat.

When it turned and missed Charleston I was actually a tad disappointed. A tropical storm or Cat 1 would provide a good training opportunity for family preparedness.

it missed you but If the storm sits off NC churning rain for a few more days the flooding and damage inland will be severe.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:08:45 AM EDT

[#41]

DzlBenz said: "Bullshit of the highest order.

But thanks for the fear-mongering anyway, jackass."

[PeeWee Herman] I know you are, but what am I? [PeeWee Herman]

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:10:55 AM EDT

[#42]

Actually I had read that they had entered and destroyed the "bugs" and removed all research to a safe and secure site. I will try and find the article.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:13:51 AM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:
Quoted:
We have at least 1 biolevel 3 lab here... AND the NSA.

Not sure if that's good or bad...

Level 3 lab has stuff you can pick up in New Mexico. No big deal. Most pharmaceutical companies have a level 3 lab somewhere.

And NSA? Mostly a bunch of geeks with pocket protectors. I used to work for that bunch.

Level 3 lab has stuff you can pick up in New Mexico

like Hanta virus????

I may be wrong on the biolevel.... but I thought we'd done some Ebola type research... we also have a large primate research facility.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:17:02 AM EDT

[#44]

And on a related note, Bubonic plague infested rats escape a lab in New Jersey:

www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/15/D8CKQJFO1.html

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:18:48 AM EDT

[#45]

www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL091305epidem.551bfa97.html

Health groups lost much research in Katrina flood

07:09 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Associated Press

As rising floodwaters swamped New Orleans, Louisiana's chief epidemiologist enlisted state police on a mission to break into a high-security government lab and destroy any dangerous germs before they could escape or fall into the wrong hands.

Armed with bolt cutters and bleach, Dr. Raoult Ratard's team entered the state's so-called "hot lab," and killed all the living samples.

"This is what had to be done," said Ratard, who matter-of-factly put a sudden end to his lab's work on dangerous germs, which he wouldn't name.

At least Ratard's team was able to retrieve laptop computers containing vital scientific data. Many other scientists in the region weren't so fortunate, losing years of research, either through storm damage or voluntary destruction.

Not since the torrential floods from Tropical Storm Allison, which badly damaged the Texas Medical Center in 2001, has scientific research been disrupted on such a large scale. Doctors and researchers in the Crescent City became exiles overnight, indefinitely locked out of their labs and unable to see patients.

Thousands of laboratory animals -- many genetically engineered with human diseases like cancer and painstakingly bred and cared for -- perished along with vital tissue samples thawed in abandoned labs.

Important work on heart disease, cancer, AIDS and a host of other ailments may be lost forever to scientists at Tulane and Louisiana State universities' medical schools in New Orleans.

LSU lost all of its 8,000 lab animals, including mice, rats, dogs and monkeys. Many drowned. Others died without food and water and the rest were euthanized, said Dr. Larry Hollier, dean of the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Medicine.

About 300 federally funded projects at New Orleans colleges and universities worth more than $150 million -- including 153 projects at Tulane -- were affected in some way, according to an initial survey by the National Institutes of Health.

One of the biggest blows is the likely destruction of frozen urine and blood samples from thousands of patients enrolled in the Bogalusa Heart Study, the world's longest-running racial study of risk factors for heart disease.

Samples collected and frozen since 1973 thawed out when the hurricane knocked out electricity and backup generators failed at a Tulane lab in New Orleans.

"It's irreplaceable. That's decades of research," aid Dr. Paul Whelton, senior vice president for health sciences at Tulane. "It makes you want to cry."

If the blood and urine samples are damaged or contaminated, future tests can't be done using them. However, Bogalusa's chief researcher, Tulane cardiologist Dr. Gerald Berenson said he had analyzed much of the data already collected and saved it on his computer, which was not damaged.

"The Bogalusa Heart Study will go on," said Berenson who visited New Orleans, but not his lab, on Tuesday. "We'll just have to pick up the pieces from what we have."

Tulane cancer specialist Dr. Tyler Curiel was one of the few researchers who decided to ride out the hurricane in New Orleans in an effort to salvage decades worth of research.

After the storm passed, Curiel spent the first few days transferring vials from broken freezers to liquid nitrogen tanks with the help of a flashlight.

He later fled to his in-laws' house in Denver and then returned to his lab for a day, grabbing whatever he could in an effort to save blood and tissue samples from an ongoing ovarian cancer project.

But he had to leave most of his experiments behind.

"This is a dramatic blow to our research," said Curiel, who plans to temporarily relocate his lab to the University of Alabama in Birmingham. "My researchers are scattered across the country and our facilities are still contaminated."

One thin silver lining to all the lab damage: It appears that no deadly diseases were released from the area's "hot labs," where researchers routinely handle and store some of the world's most dangerous germs.

In Covington, just north of New Orleans, Tulane's high-security National Primate Research Center reported only minor damage and said none of its 5,000 research animals escaped.

Ratard, the state epidemiologist, said the lab he returned to appeared undamaged and untouched by looters. He wouldn't disclose what germs the laboratory was working on when Katrina struck.

All the labs in Katrina's path that handle bioweapons defense research involving pathogens such as anthrax reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that their security wasn't compromised, according to CDC spokesman Von Roebuck. "A few reported minor damage, but there was no issue of escape."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:27:11 AM EDT

[#46]

I'm sorry to say but this is true.
You have all been misinformed though.
This "top secret bio-weapons development lab" is not owned by the US gov't though it does know of its existence.

The T-virus has been released.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:30:44 AM EDT

[#47]

they were doing similar bioweapons research to what is done at usamriid. they are not weaponsing biologicals they are researching vaccine and treatment protocols. there is a MAJOR difference.

when i was in ebola was done in our bl-4 suites. that may have changed.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:36:33 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:

when i was in ebola was done in our bl-4 suites. that may have changed.

That's ugly stuff!

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:38:08 AM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
Level 3 lab has stuff you can pick up in New Mexico

like Hanta virus????

I may be wrong on the biolevel.... but I thought we'd done some Ebola type research... we also have a large primate research facility.

Hantavirus you can get from infected rat urine. Gets into the dust, you breathe the dust, you get sick. Level 3 is normally used for research in Hepatitis B, HIV, influenza, anthrax, plague, and the like. You could have hantavirus in it, but not as often. Hanta is kind of exotic. Most of the stuff you'd find in a level 3 is treatable.

Level 2 is like a regular clinic lab where they take tissue cultures for testing. You know, like you pee in a jar, they want to check it, goes to a level 2 lab.

Sometimes stuff moves back and forth, depending on how much of it there is and what they're testing for. It's mostly guidelines and such. Your really wild and wooly stuff like Ebola and Marburg go in Level 4, i.e. space suit land.

Posted: 9/15/2005 11:42:44 AM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:
dunno for sure. i live in atlanta. supposedly the cdc here has smallpox virus. there was once a discussion of where smallpox samples were kept. one was cdc i think. some place in russia. very few places keep the virus world wide

i would be very suprised to find out there was a biolab in NO that was just abandoned and that al qaeda know about it.. and broke in.. and we found out in detail.. and reported it in the news as legit..

and France -

those are the only three places (that we know about!) that have live small pox virus

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rumor Mill: Al Queda operative obtains bio-weapon material from research lab in N.O. (Page 1 of 2)

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