US accidentally sent anthrax to three laboratories in Canada too

Washington, June 2 (IANS/EFE) The US Armed Forces accidentally sent live samples of anthrax to three laboratories in Canada in addition to 11 US states, Australia and South Korea, USA Today reported.

The samples were accidentally sent to Canada from a US Army lab at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, the same place from where all samples were sent to the rest of the laboratories, said the newspaper on Monday citing two senior officials from the Department of Defense.

The Pentagon, which is yet to confirm the shipping to Canada, announced last week that they had accidentally sent the samples to 11 US states, Australia and South Korea.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the incident.

However it has said that these samples never posed any risk of contamination for the general public.

The samples, that should have contained inactive anthrax, were sent to the laboratories between March 2014 and March 2015 as part of a programme to test for the identification of biological threats.

Pentagon reported that four civilians who were exposed to the anthrax are receiving preventive treatment.

--IANS/EFE

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