Anthrax scare a hoax for two New Zealand media agencies

December 10, 2007 Police in Auckland, New Zealand were dispatched to two incidents, one at Television New Zealand and Greenstone Pictures in which envelopes containing notes saying "anthrax" and a white powdery substance were discovered.

The police, fire service and bomb disposal unit were called in with a device that can detect anthrax, and it was later determined that the substance found was not anthrax, but was in fact a fertilizer and the letters, an apparent hoax.

The substance will be shipped to the capital and will be screened by Environmental Sciences and Research to determine what exactly the substance is. Emergency services blocked of roads and the people who were exposed to the suspect letters were decontaminated.

No injuries are reported and no one has yet experienced any symptoms of exposure.