Too little of an amount to determine actual substance
Jul 03, 2008 - 04:30 AM
PICKERING -- The strange powder sent to the City of Pickering a couple of weeks ago remains a mystery.
The white powder that shut down City Hall for half a day and evening had a number of ramifications on the City, including an estimated $20,000-to-$25,000 loss and a number of people placed in quarantine. The powder, sent in an envelope with three parking tickets, was opened by two clerks.
Team-1 Environmental Services, Pickering's haz-mat team, was on the scene to test the powder. But chief administrative officer Tom Quinn explained all that could be determined was the fact that it was not anthrax and it was not toxic.
"Because of the limited amount of material that was there it was very hard to do the test," he said.
Team-1 first tested for protein, which would have indicated anthrax, and it came up negative. Tested to see if something would grow in a culture form for bacteria, which would have shown anything toxic, that had a negative result as well. Both revealed the substance was not hazardous, but whether it was a material such as baby powder could not be determined.
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