1.   An alert employee of the germ bank, American Type Culture Collection of Manassas, Va., notified the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

2.   But American experts said the global network of germ banks was far less cautious, with credential checks and shipment rules uneven or rudimentary.

3.   But anthrax can also be obtained from germ banks, scientific supply houses that supply tissue cultures and organisms to researchers and others.

4.   But American germ banks have also inadvertently delivered noxious microbes to hostile armies and domestic terrorists.

5.   But increasingly, authorities are concerned that these germ banks could become the targets of terrorists.

6.   Experts praise U.S. regulation of germ banks but point out that few other countries exert similar controls.

7.   Germ banks are scientific supply houses that provide cell cultures and microorganisms to researchers, either free, for sale or in exchange for other organisms.

8.   Harris was eventually arrested after his eager calls to the germ bank raised suspicions that something was amiss.

9.   Raymond H. Cypess, president of the germ bank, said recent investigations had disproved the mislabeling idea.

10.   Standardized germ banks played a major role in helping scientists find public health improvements and make vaccines and antibiotics.