1.   Although the men were charged with possessing and conspiring to possess a biological weapon, authorities announced Saturday that the substance turned out to be a harmless anthrax vaccine.

2.   Although the government is moving ahead rapidly on smallpox, it is mired in uncertainty in procuring anthrax vaccines.

3.   American experts say a benign explanation for the research is that the Russians are trying to improve their own anthrax vaccine, which uses live germs.

4.   An additional hearing about the anthrax vaccine is scheduled Wednesday before the House Government veterans affairs subcommittee.

5.   And federal health officials began offering the anthrax vaccine to workers on Capitol Hill and to some postal employees.

6.   Anthrax vaccines already are controversial for their suspected link to Gulf War Syndrome, Platoni and Ensalaco said.

7.   Anthrax vaccine is manufactured in the United States by only one firm, BioPort of Lansing, Mich.

8.   Anthrax vaccine for livestock uses a live organism as its immunizing agent and is not considered suitable for use on humans.

9.   Avant Immunotherapeutics, in Needham, Mass., has licensed its technology to a Defense Department contractor that is working on an anthrax vaccine.

10.   Before the anthrax vaccine, no military ever tried to immunize itself against biological attack.