Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and subsequent national scares about anthrax, safety officials at Mississippi State have developed a testing protocol and have verified that five suspicious substances reported on campus were not threats.

Working with the University Police and the state Department of Environmental Quality, the office responsible for campus biological safety is assessing the potential danger of unknown substances according to recognized criteria, said Tracy S. Arwood, regulatory compliance officer.

The Regulatory Compliance Office oversees the use of human subjects, vertebrate animals, biohazardous materials, or radioisotopes in university research.

In cooperation with campus and state officials, the office's research specialists have become first evaluators for campus reports of suspicious substances.

Analysis verifies whether or not a biological material such as anthrax is present in the substance collected. In all five cases to date, Arwood said, nothing "suspect" has been found.

Among initial questions asked by the evaluating team:

-Does the threat follow an existing pattern? To date, primary national exposures have been caused by mail processed and delivered to media, government and military personnel.

-Beyond the substance itself, is there a reason to believe a threat exists? Has an actual threat been made? Is there an existing condition such as work on a classified project that might generate a threat?

"The United States Postal Service, the Centers for Disease Control and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among others, have posted detailed safety precautions at their web sites," Arwood noted. "Some of these suggestions are summarized at the university news web site at http://www.ur.msstate.edu/news/announce/mailopening.asp.

"We urge the campus community to exercise common sense and caution," she said.

Mail considered suspicious by the United States Postal Service includes letters or parcels that:

--have any powdery substance on the outside;

--are addressed to someone no longer with your organization or are otherwise outdated;

--have no return address, or have one that can't be verified as legitimate;

--are of unusual weight, given their size, or are lopsided or oddly shaped;

--have an unusual amount of tape on them;

--are marked with restrictive endorsements, such as "Personal" or "Confidential;" or

--have strange odors or stains.