Ah, fuck! The Pentagon just said its anthrax mistake is worse than previously believed: live samples of the deadly bacteria might have reached 51 different labs in 17 different states, D.C., and three foreign countries. Also, this has been going on for the past decade.

The samples, which were mailed commercially via FedEx like a “Friends” DVD from Amazon, originated from Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and should have been deactivated—meaning non-infectious—but it’s possible they were still live. The LA Times says the Pentagon is sure this didn’t pose a threat to the public. The states in question, in case you’d like to go wash your hands right now, are as follows:

California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and the District of Columbia

A new DoD website outlines the internal investigation, including the “identification of systemic problems and the steps necessary to fix those problems.” One step might be no longer moving anthrax samples via FedEx. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that, according to the Pentagon, this has been going on for ten years:

Photo: Getty