Testing clears powder found at Minn. prison clinic
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(AP) - The FBI says initial testing on a white powder sent to a medical center for federal prisoners is negative for harmful or destructive material.
Special Agent E.K. Wilson also says Friday that there was no threat associated with the envelope that was sent to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester on Thursday.
A spokesman for the state Health Department says its preliminary testing found the powder was calcium carbonate, the main ingredient in sea shells. It's harmless.
Prison spokesman Dan Cansino has said the envelope was received in the center's mailroom Thursday morning, and no inmates came in contact with the powder.
Wilson says the incident doesn't appear to have any ties to the more than 30 letters containing a suspicious powder recently sent to financial institutions and the New York Times.
The federal Bureau of Prisons says the Rochester facility provides medical and mental health services to male offenders in the federal prison system.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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