The incident forced about 70 people to evacuate the building while HAZMAT teams and law enforcement officers conducted on-site investigations and recovered the sample for laboratory testing.
At that point in the investigation, no one knew definitively what was in the envelope. But the first responders were well aware of the range of possible threats. Unknown samples, such as suspicious powders, may contain any combination of biological, chemical, radiological or explosive agents. Moreover, hazardous agents are likely to be much more highly concentrated in an environmental sample than in a human specimen, such as blood or urine.
Fortunately, by late 2004, Iowa’s 20 HAZMAT teams had undergone extensive training to prepare them for just such an emergency. The training came from a long-time partner: the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory, Iowa’s state public health laboratory.
Bonnie Rubin, the laboratory’s terrorism response coordinator, explained that proper sample collection is critical to protect those on-site, to assure chain-of-custody documentation for possible criminal proceedings and to maintain sample integrity for laboratory testing.
The laboratory’s training program covers all these areas. The three-part program includes:
• A hands-on sample collection seminar, co-taught by members of the 71st WMD Civil Support Team, an Iowa-based National Guard unit whose primary mission is weapons of mass destruction response.
• A three-day program to familiarize first responders with laboratory testing methods so, said Rubin, “they understand why they have to collect the samples a certain way.”
• An ongoing proficiency testing program to assure that first responders correctly use handheld testing devices in the field, interpret test results correctly and develop an appropriate action plan based on findings, likely including confirmatory testing at the .
The laboratory also supplies the state’s HAZMAT teams with a sample collection kit that it developed and a sample collection DVD, produced in collaboration with the 71st Civil Support Team and Kirkwood Community College.
The DVD can be used for ongoing training, as well as just-in-time instruction during an incident. For example, first responders can select “powder,” followed by “large amount” or “small amount.” Other options are “liquids,” “solids” or “swabbing.”
In all the training, safety considerations are central. One exercise uses a powder that fluoresces under ultraviolet light, allowing first responders to see any cross-contamination they introduce. And throughout an event, said Rubin, “They have to be thinking, ‘There might be something here that I can’t see or smell that might infect me.’”
Iowa’s HAZMAT teams have had ample opportunity to practice what they’ve learned. “We know we’ve had over 70 events already where they’ve had to use this training,” said Rubin.
The Des Moines Register incident was an early trial. What was in the envelope? The responding HAZMAT team delivered the sample to UHL scientists and, in this case, it was what the perpetrator asserted; scientists isolated metaldehyde, the toxic active ingredient in snail bait. If the next incident should deliver a more hazardous agent, responders and scientists must be ready, regardless of the potential risks.