Bacteria.

This is coolbert:

From a Chicago Tribune obituary last week:

"Cold War germ-warfare scientist"

"HAGERSTOWN, Md. - - Wallace L. Pannier, a germ-warfare scientist whose top-secret projects included a mock attack on the New York subway with powered bacteria in 1966 . . . has died"

"Mr. Pannier worked at Ft. Detrick, an Army installation . . . that tested biological weapons . . . and is now a center for bio-defense research"

"The unit [that Mr. Pannier belong to, Special Operations] tested delivery systems for deadly agents"

"that team . . . staged their mock on attack on the New York subway in 1966 by shattering light bulbs packed with powdered bacteria on the tracks"

"'People could carry a brown bag with light bulbs in it and nobody would be suspicious,'"

"After a bulb broke, releasing the powder, 'the trains swishing by would get it airborne,'"

"The bacteria used as mock weapons were believed to be harmless but have since been classified as human pathogens."

Comments:

* The U.S. Army and the CIA both conducted such experimentation during the Cold War. Knowing how efficacious such at attack would be allows for offensive and defensive planning. NOT necessarily something sinister here!

* Releasing radioactive elements in a subway system would similarly be effective? That movement of the trains "swishing by" gets the material airborne for radioactive particles as well. The "dirty bomb" as envisioned being used by jihadi terrorists does not even need the "bomb"!

* Normal - - healthy people - - generally are NOT bothered by these bacteria. Young children, old folks, sickly individuals ARE at risk from these bacteria. AND, at the time, the various bacteria used WERE NOT thought to be dangerous. Perspectives change!

coolbert.