Some 40 staff members of the BBC World Service were herded out of their
offices and into a parking area of the company’s headquarters in Bush
House, London last month, where they were ordered to strip and then
hosed down, after a powder, suspected of being anthrax, was found in the
company mail, the London Mail on Sunday reported.
“It was
appalling and some of the women in particular were deeply upset,” an
unnamed BBC employee told the newspaper. It reported that many staff
members were detained for hours while their offices were checked for
contamination, and although they were eventually told they could go
home, many could not since their clothes had not been returned.
The
Mail quoted Pierre Vicary, an official of the National Union of
Journalists as saying, “It was a madhouse. Given that other media
organizations had been targeted, the BBC should have been better
prepared. It seems no effort was made to provide people with privacy
when they undressed, nor were the sexes separated. We have received
assurances that it will be handled much more sensitively if it happens
again.”
The substance in the letter was later identified as talcum.
