Disclaimer: The following article is the sole opinion of Arthur Helms. ZWN and it's affiliates do not influence, endorse nor are accountable for Mr. Helms opinions.

Related story: Ich Bin Ein Zombie? - Part one

Last time, we looked at how Necro-Mortosis mixed with fear, rage and adrenalin overcame common sense to narrowly avoid what could have been a far more disastrous outcome in the Hannover airport incident. This time, I’d like to get to the root cause of this incident; the improper and dangerous handling of the world’s most dangerous cargo. Official reports claim that Eugene Becker, the unfortunate airport cargo worker, was infected with Necro-Mortosis after handling a damaged shipping container. Let’s start with this point, Dear Reader.

To understand how this could have happened, you have to understand some of the basics of logistics and material handling. The common conception in any freight business is; we don’t care what it is, if you pay us enough we’ll move it where you want it. This works well for laundry detergent, electronics or any other widget you want to substitute. However, there are certain precautions that must be taken in the packaging, care and handling of medical, infectious and hazardous samples, products and waste. You can’t get around these precautions. Oil tankers are double-hulled. Nuclear materials are hauled in long caravans festooned with escort vehicles and city, state and federal law enforcement and safety entourages. Your UPS man won’t even take a package that he knows contains a single aerosol can. And, have you tried to open a simple bottle of aspirin in our litigious world lately? Aspirin, Dear Reader, is more secure in its plastic, sealed bottle than the Necro-Mortosis materials handled by the late Mr. Becker. So, how do we explain how a container filled with one of the most deadly and readily-communicable substances known to man became compromised?

The failure comes on two main fronts; initial packaging and the shipping packaging, marking, security and handling after it left the shipper. Granted, the original material and packaging would have occurred in Haiti, an area not well-known for its safety precautions and health department oversight. However, there have been foreign doctors, researchers and scientists on the ground in that island nation for more than a year, dealing with their recurring Necro-Mortosis problems. These people know well the regulations and proper handling of any infectious materials. This first front of failure is also the most vital step in securing such material. When dealing with air shipments, this first layer of protection is also the most vital. The original shipper has little control over the hazards their freight will face once it leaves their hands, so this initial packaging must be of the strongest and most secure materials since it is the first line of defense while in transit. This packaging obviously failed since the material was able to leak out into its shipping container. This brings us to the second failure.

The shipping container itself was obviously made of a material that allows absorption and seepage of spilled liquids within its walls. If it wasn’t, then there was a defect in the packaging material that allowed for this. In this country, when transporting this kind of toxic, infectious or hazardous material the shipper must declare what it is to the company transporting it, and that company must then follow procedures set forth by the various regulatory agencies to ensure it is packaged, marked and handled properly. I can see that in this situation we aren’t dealing with U.S. authorities and procedures, but that’s no excuse for what happened here. Shipping companies operate on razor-thin profit margins as a rule, and the costs of packaging for high-value, high-risk loads does nothing but eat into their profits. As I have stated so many times, Dear Reader, it all comes back to money.

There are many reasons why shippers of Mortosis materials wouldn’t want to emblazon their containers with the word “Necro-Mortosis”. General fear and the chance that the material will be stolen by terrorists or even M-Bomb producers are the first few that come to mind. Also to mind comes the thought that certain shippers, receivers and freight companies know the liability they face in carrying the materials and don’t want to pony up for the additional packaging and security concerns. The bottom line is; the initial packaging and securing, that crucial first line of defense, became somehow compromised whether in transit or from improper handling when it was loaded. The second line of defense, the shipping container, was either damaged before it was loaded with the necrotic samples or in transit.

Who sent the samples, and under what authority? Who was in charge of securing them for transport? Who owns the shipping container that was used? Was it properly rated and pressure tested? How old was it? Did the crew know they were handling infectious materials? Did the pilots know what they were transporting? Worse yet, was the package aboard a cargo-only flight, or was it in the belly of a commercial passenger jet to cut shipping costs as has become the norm in the airline industry? I don’t need to tell you what could have happened if the last instance was true and a release occurred in-flight. Such an event would have made the events surrounding the outbreak on the cruise ship Horizon Dawn seem like child’s play by comparison. There are many more questions than these that need answers, and I’m willing to bet that without our constant prodding we’ll get precious few of those answers.

The world can’t let any government or corporation cover up this event. The plague has already proven that it doesn’t need our help in spreading across continents, and yet here we are doing its dirty work for it. The need to transport this material is there so that researchers and scientists can use it in the fight, but at the same time we have to realize that what we’re transporting can easily kill us all. Shouldn’t shipments of Necro-Mortosis materials be safeguarded at least as well as a bottle of aspirin?

I am calling on our federal government from the President on down, on the heads of the United Nations, the German government and the agencies responsible for the research in Haiti to come forward and make public every step of their investigation. I am also calling on the heads of Niro-Air to step up and be the responsible corporate and world citizen their marketing and legal departments would like us to think they are and explain themselves as well. I urge you to write to your Congressmen to demand they pull any authority Niro-Air may have to operate in the United States as well as freeze any U.S. held assets until they do so.

We can’t let this event die on the table, Dear Reader. The implications for future shipments and transportation of Necro-Mortosis materials could well be decided here and now. The world has seen just how easily the plague can be spread. Eugene Becker wasn’t infected by some shambling creature from our nightmares. He wasn’t behind some barricade in a forgotten Third World country, counting his bullets to make sure he had at least one left for himself if he was overrun. He was a simple man just trying to do his job, a job that should never have involved direct contact with Necro-Mortosis. The people responsible for this travesty need to be called on the carpet to explain themselves, and they need to be punished to the utmost limits that both German and international law will allow. It’s too late for Mr. Becker and his family, and it was almost too late for Ms. Silke Koch, the almost-victim of the undead Mr. Becker. Don’t let it be too late for the rest of us.

Art

Editors note: The cargo carrier 'Nitro-Air' was contacted for comment on behalf of ZWN international. A short email was returned with the following statement

"Nitro-Air' (a division of Hannai Holdings) wishes to state that it regrets the incident at Hannover airport , It wishes to express it's sincere condolences to the wife and family of Mr. Eugene Becker and additionaly extends it's best wishes to Ms. Koch for a full recovery. Whilst this incident is still pending full review (both internal and in cooperation with German authorities) no further comment is possible at this time."

Related report:
Mortosis incident in Hannover? Posted: 4th, May. 2008
'John Doe' identified in Hannover attack Posted: 8th, May. 2008
Victim released from hospital Posted: 10th, May. 2008
Hannover attack - airport searched Posted: 17th, May. 2008
Airport reopens - quarantine lifted Posted: 2nd, June. 2008

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Arthur Helms is a syndicated columnist who has dealt with a host of social and political issues. His previous syndicated column, “Logic, Please?” offered commentary on a host of world-view issues as seen through the cold yet bright light of plain logic, demonstrated fact and simple common sense.

While the academic and political elite often dismissed his commentary as “too simplistic” for our complicated times, his books of collected columns and hundreds of national speaking engagements each year attest to his connection to a readership yearning for simple answers to complex issues. Helms recently ended his syndicated column to sign on exclusively with Zombie World News, providing a fresh, logical,
plain-English view of the plague and to bring some common sense to what many perceive to be a senseless situation.

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