I always thought this would be a good way for terrorists to initiate a second attack, by distributing contaminated/laced medicine/food/water through a volunteer network. Even if the secondary attack were small, it would be significant enough to create a level of suspicion of all dispensed products.

For example, if a terrorist(s) had poisoned a small number of cases of donated bottled water during Katrina, using a few different brands of water and donating them at different locations, there would have been additional (beyond the effects of the hurricane itself) widespread panic. Once some of the donated bottled water was found to be contaminated, then all of the donated water would have become suspect.

Just look at the post 9/11 anthrax attacks and the effect on the Postal System and Emergency Services. I can’t tell you how many additional HazMat calls for suspicious packages were dispatched in the weeks following the attacks.

While this may turn out to be the only way to distribute (though a secondary volunteer force) necessary medications/food/water during a bio-terrorist or other type of attack, we could end up with additional problems, if there is not some method to ensure the safety of the product.

Pete