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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  3115 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Errol Morris: ‘Demon in the Freezer’

Pay close attention to the past tense of this Wiki article.

I've been told that you can drive right up, dig a sample, and get as many bioweapons strains as you care to culture.





OftenBen  ·  3115 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    over the last decade many of these containers have developed leaks.

Well then.

kleinbl00  ·  3115 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Starting in 1986 a determined effort was made to decontaminate the island, with 280 tonnes of formaldehyde solution diluted in seawater being sprayed over all 196 hectares of the island and the worst-contaminated topsoil around the dispersal site being removed. A flock of sheep was then placed on the island and remained healthy. On 24 April 1990, after 48 years of quarantine and 4 years after the solution being applied, junior defence minister Michael Neubert visited the island and announced its safety by removing the warning signs.[9] On 1 May 1990, the island was repurchased by the heirs of the original owner for the original sale price of £500.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruinard_Island

Somewhere I remember hearing that to make Gruinard habitable they started out by scraping 4" of topsoil off the whole thing and burning it. Fortunately smallpox ain't anthrax but bioweapons are nasty regardless.

briandmyers  ·  3115 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    In 1971, an accidental release of weaponized smallpox from the island infected ten people, of whom 3 died.

So yeah, it doesn't even need to escape a lab. Feral campers could do the job.

kleinbl00  ·  3115 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My understanding is that the evaporation of the Aral Sea has not exactly made the area more hospitable... and that one must be studiously deliberate in order to get out there.

But there is nothing opposing you. Friend of mine who visited did so in a full suit.