Killer anthrax 'came from US government lab'

A senior scientist has stated the anthrax attacks in America almost certainly derived from a US government laboratory.

Barbara Rosenberg, chairman of the Federation of American Scientist's group on biological weapons said the spores probably derived from a defence lab.

She says the anthrax attacks demonstrate the incredible potency of using disease as a weapon.

"My city has been attacked, first by foreign terrorists, then by an American using a weaponised biological agent."

Rosenberg was representing one of a number of arms-control groups that urged a 144 nation conference in Geneva to tighten restrictions on germ warfare in the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

The anthrax used in letters sent to addresses in New York City, Florida and Washington, "was derived, almost certainly, from a US defence laboratory," said Rosenberg.

"But was only a small taste of what is possible." Four people have died as a result of the toxin.