OFF: Anthrax alert (somewhat tasteless...)

[Richard Lockwood]

The Government says it has confirmed a case of Anthrax exposure from a
contaminated CD - the first such case outside the United States since 1983.

The Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, said Anthrax had been discovered in a
package sent from Amazon.com in the United States.

He said the package had been sent to an ordinary citizen, and that four
people had been exposed to the second track, “Metal Thrashing Mad”.

The US House of Representatives in Washington has been shut down until at
least Monday after a vinyl disc contaminated with Anthrax was sent to the
office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Mr Daschle said that the Anthrax album found in his office had been posted
in the US city of Atlanta on 8 September, possibly by a disgruntled
teenager, bored of black bedroom walls.  The album, believed to be of the
“Fistful of Metal” strain, first created in New York City in the early
1980s, had been played only once, he said, and he again pleaded for calm.

Some people have been hurrying to buy anti-Anthrax CDs.  Mrs Wilma Henderson
of Sheffield said “I’ve been down to Tower Records this morning, and have
bought every Britney Spears and N’Synch CD I could afford.  I don’t want my
daughters to be in danger from this kind of terrorism.”

Two other suspect recordings are also being tested for Anthrax, including
“Speak English Or Die” by the Stormtroopers of Death.

"The government has the capacity and capability to deal with the situation,"
he said, “however we ask the public to be vigilant, and to look out for
copies of ‘I am the Law’, the one with the funny b-side.” he added.

In 1996, Lars Ulrich was believed to be in possession of copies of “State of
Euphoria”, as well as “Celtic Frost” and “Dark Angel” albums.