DEP Invoice or Financial Record, September 30, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Liberties / MAUREEN DOWD /-A,

From Botox to “ Botulism Washington . .. It was always a delusional vanity. Women 1 know in New York and V won’t work to take Cipro every time this fixation boomers had about con­ Washington debate whether to order they get the sniffles. This narcissis­ trolling their environment. They Israeli vs. Marine Corps gas masks, tic, us-me culture is slowly starting and half-hour lightweight gas masks “to understand that they will have to //.-.fought they could make life safe and „act as a collective on public health to healthy and fend off death and aging. vs. $400 eight-hour gas masks, baby -gas masks and pet gas masks, with ^et the vaccines and trained nurses. They would banish germs with the same meticulous attention they n: “The government doesn’t have a e .anti-fungal toothbrushes, hand-sani- gave to ordering no-foam-no-fat-no- •jclue about how to get the terrorism -tizing lotions, organic food, bottled whip lattes in more innocent days. .situation under control. We can’t . water and echinacea. They share information on which •Atake anything on faith anymore.” < They would overcome flab with pharmacies still have Cipro. Zithro- ., Osama bin Laden, Ms. Miller says, '•idiet and exercise, wrinkles with col­ inax and Doxycycline, all antibiotics - has been experimenting with lethal lagen and Botox, sagging skin with that can be used for anthrax, the way toxins, and satellites have picked up .surgery, impotence with Viagra, they once traded tips on designer , pictures of little dead animals wmood swings with anti-depressants, shoe bargains. They talk more now ' around his camp. “Bunnies, dogs,” •jnyopia with laser surgery, decay about real botulism than its trendy she murmured. “This guy is relent- I with human growth hormone, dis- cosmetic derivative Botox. ,..less.” • ease with stem cell research and bio­ They are toting around flats and ; Ms. Miller agreed there were many engineering. sneakers in case they have to run, scenarios that would “cause you trou- Anti-aging and anti-bacterial prod­ 'and stocking up on canned tuna, ble sleeping,” including Muslim mar­ ucts flourished, from “age-defying” salmon and oysters, batteries and tyrs willing to be infected with small­ pantyhose to anti-bacterial ballpoint bottled water. pox or Marburg, a cousin of Ebola, '-pens, sneakers and calculators. “People are carrying survival . who could then walk around our malls ' The generation that came of age ;, packs to fine restaurants,” said Pa- . and cause ah epidemic. with psychedelic frolicking became ■ tricia Wexler, a Manhattan derma- Other experts say the chances of -ludicrously obsessed with creating a j'toiogist who has been prescribing bioterrorism attacks are small. pure, risk-free atmosphere. '■^tibiotics and sleeping pills for her Don’t try telling that to the Perri- ; Even when microbiologists warned .'jittery patients. “Women are taking er-and-Purell generation. □ - that the avid pursuit of germless their little black Prada techno-nylon ■homes was endangering the long- **bags and slipping in gas masks for "term health of children by contribut- ,the couple, Cipro, a flashlight, a sili- ' ing to the threat of antibiotic-resistant *cone gel tube — you shmear the .microbes, the anti-bacterial ads kept “ silicone on your skin so hopefully it Coming, depicting kitchens and bath- . doesn’t absorb the spores as fast. It’s rooms as dangerous places. truly scary. We worry about crop After all these finicky years of .'jdusters over Midtown. It would be so ' fighting everyday germs and inevita- easy to contaminate the reservoir.” -ble mortality with fancy products, My friend Sally Quinn, a Washing- Americans are now confronted with yton writer, has been trying to order the specter of terrorists in crop dust- .gas masks for her family for several days, only to find sold-out stores, /with new orders not expected until .late October. “We had such a lapse of T Poxes, plagues imagination before this happened,” she said, “that now we have an over- and pet gas stimulation of imagination.” Judy Miller, a Times reporter who masks. is one of the authors of the surprise new best seller “Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War,” said she had been deluged •ers and hazardous-waste trucks with calls from people asking how they can protect themselves. spreading really terrifying, deadly “ “It’s the ultimate freakout,” she -toxins like plague, smallpox, blister . said. “I have to tell them that they •agents, nerve gas and botulism. cannot do a lot as individuals, that it

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