[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 10, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H6488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMENTS REGARDING ANTHRAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Crenshaw). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I know how proud the people of Jacksonville 
are to see you in the Chair today, and I am delighted to address the 
Congress and particularly to the people in my district, the 16th 
Congressional District of Florida.
  Once again, our county, Palm Beach County, is in the news; and the 
news is not good. It is relative to a scare that is occurring in my 
community relative to anthrax.
  What I do want to express to my constituents and to this community is 
the professionalism with which this issue is being dealt with on the 
ground. We have a phenomenal Public Health Unit, led by Dr. Jean 
Malecki, who is the head of the Palm Beach County Health Department. I 
want to give you a little story, if I can, because obviously this has 
caught a lot of people off guard and has caused a degree of panic in 
our community.
  Dr. Larry Bush at JFK Medical Center in Atlanta was the first to 
treat the patient who presented himself, Mr. Robert Stevens, from 
Lantana. He noticed in examining the spinal fluids of Mr. Stevens that 
there was a very, very odd behavior to the spinal fluid, and what he 
was detecting was of quite serious concern. He sent the material to the 
lab for further investigation because it was unlike anything he had 
seen in recent time, and immediately called Dr. Malecki at the Palm 
Beach County Health Unit.
  This is where the professional response team came in and played a 
pivotal and important role in determining the disease that he was 
suffering from, the bacteria that had infected him. Then, of course, 
Dr. Malecki immediately alerted CDC and the FBI. They moved 
expeditiously to our community and secured the premises, looked back at 
where Mr. Stevens had been the last several weeks, investigated 
thoroughly all the various ways he may have been contaminated, tested 
all of the individuals working at the company, American Media, and did 
so in a relatively short period of time.

                              {time}  1415

  Let me underscore the reason why I want to speak today and it is to 
applaud not only the Palm Beach County Health Unit, applaud Dr. Larry 
Bush for immediately investigating the pathogen that he discovered and 
alerting the authorities rather than maybe choosing otherwise and not 
to bring this to a heightened sense of awareness, and for John F. 
Kennedy Memorial Hospital that has been in existence since 1960, ably 
represented by Mr. Phil Robinson who is the administrator for 
immediately doing the right thing, and that is public disclosure, that 
is notifying authorities, that is bringing in experts, that is 
conducting a total surveillance of a situation.
  Let me read to you from the Palm Beach Post, our local newspaper. The 
editorial today is ``Keep Confidence High During Anthrax Hunt.'' ``To 
reassure the public as the anthrax investigation continues in Palm 
Beach County, the public health system must be at its best. Since last 
week, the community has seen the benefit of that system's strengths and 
the need for officials to face questions, not avoid them.''
  It goes on to say, Dr. Malecki, a specialist in epidemiology, the 
branch of medicine that investigates the causes and control of disease, 
began investigating Wednesday. A day later, CDC tests confirmed anthrax 
bacteria, and CDC officials immediately dispatched a team to our 
community as well as the FBI. Since the anthrax strain was not 
naturally occurring, goes the report, it is reasonable to conclude that 
someone introduced it to into the American Media building. Thus, the 
system will be tested further as the questioning increases. Conflicting 
messages and attempts to limit what information public receives will 
cause public anxiety.
  That is where I want to stop and urge all people involved with this, 
and I have no reason to doubt that they are forthcoming. But we need to 
reassure the public every step of this investigation what we are 
learning. Every likely contaminant that he may have come in contact 
with to bring into perspective what may be at stake here. Yes, this is 
a scary time for many; but it is no reason for panic because the 
professionals, the health teams, the FBI and others are down on the 
ground working.
  What I would like to finish with in conclusion is the last paragraph. 
In fact, the system is working with a proper combination of urgency and 
responsibility. Some of the best medical minds at all levels of 
government are working around the clock to find out what happened and 
who did it. Let me repeat, some of the best medical minds at all levels 
of government are working around the clock to find out what happened 
and who did it.
  Given the stakes and the jittery public mood, this is the public 
health system the public should see. I salute Dr. Malecki. I salute the 
team of professionals who are on the ground. I thank Secretary Thompson 
and his agencies at HHS for keeping me briefed on this urgent matter. I 
thank the FBI and others for their detailed and thorough investigation 
of this scene to reassure our community that we are on top of this 
situation and we will determine who caused this and when and how it was 
delivered.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues as well for their support during 
the past several weeks for all of the victims of terror, for their 
support of the President and particularly his recent directive urging a 
little bit of secrecy, if you will, in the plans as he is outlining 
them so we do not have a rush to judgment nor a release of information 
that could harm some of our personnel as they enter into engagement in 
these battles.

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