Worldwide threat exposes lax controls

Reports that anthrax bacteria are widely available at germ banks from Paris to Perth don't do much to allay concerns about the spread of the potentially fatal spores.

Neither is it any comfort to learn that the Soviet Union, which once pursued biological weapons in earnest, dumped anthrax on an unguarded island near Afghanistan -- a mess that U.S. tax dollars now will clean up.

Most of the anthrax stored in labs is used for medical research. For the past five years, it has been illegal for anthrax to be shipped in the U.S. without Justice Department approval. But labs elsewhere in the world aren't tightly regulated.

This is another example of how it takes a worldwide threat to wake us up to the horrible potential when deadly germs fall into the hands of terrorists.