A spokeswoman for Lansing’s BioPort Corp. used photos of blackened human organs to shock a group of about 100 people Wednesday in Conrad Hall.
The photos and presentation, part of a Lyman Briggs School lecture series, showed what the potentially deadly bacteria anthrax can do to a human body. BioPort is the only U.S. producer of a vaccine against anthrax, and provides the military its stockpile.
But the Food and Drug Administration kept BioPort from shipping the vaccine because of facility problems after it took over a Michigan-run lab in 1998. It gained FDA approval to ship the vaccine in December.
Anthrax made headlines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when mail laced with the bacteria was sent to U.S. officials and media members. Five people have died from anthrax since Oct. 5.
BioPort Corp. spokeswoman Kim Brennen Root said although BioPort produces a vaccine, its military contract keeps it from distributing it to the public. The vaccine is not mass produced, Brennen Root said, because anthrax is not a large threat to most of the population.
But she said her company does want to help educate the public about the bacteria.
“The scientific community has a responsibility and obligation to help our country with a significant amount in terms of preparing for weapons of mass destruction and bioterrorism,” she said.
MSU also has had its own scare over anthrax. In October, employees in Linton Hall notified police when they received a piece of suspicious mail. The building was shut down and any employees who came in contact with the letter were decontaminated.
MSU police Lt. Bill Wardwell has since developed information to be distributed to the community. In the event of a disaster, Wardwell will coordinate emergency management and resources along with planning responses.
“It’s very important to be prepared for any sort of biological threat, so that we can respond appropriately and the public is comfortable with the idea that we are capable of handling such a threat,” he said.
MSU’s Department of Police and Public Safety has established procedures for handling, transportation and analysis of such packages, he said.
Dr. Dean Sienko, Ingham County Health Department medical director, said the biological response is a twist to the same emergency plan used to deal with a train derailment or a large vehicle accident.
“There have always been mass casualty plans, but largely they have been related to a large number of casualties due to mechanical trauma,” Sienko said.
