FBI: White powder mailed to Salt Lake Temple harmless

Preliminary tests have found that a white powdery substance found in an

envelope mailed to LDS Church headquarters is not hazardous, the FBI

said.

"There is no known toxins or biological agents," FBI Special Agent Juan Becerra told the Deseret News.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency

issued a statement Friday urging respect and civility in public

discourse. Gay rights groups are also condemning the threats.

Lab tests were conducted overnight to determine whether the powder

that slipped out of an envelope opened in the annex of the Salt Lake

Temple was ricin, anthrax, smallpox or any other deadly toxin. They

came back negative, but further tests were being conducted on Friday by

state health officials, Becerra said.

The FBI on Friday also said it has labeled their probe into the suspicious substances as a domestic terrorist investigation.

"Obviously it instills fear in the public eye and causes people

not to feel safe," Becerra said. "It is illegal to mail something out

and to threaten the use of a biological weapon or even pretend it's a

biological weapon."

The LDS temples in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles received

envelopes on Thursday containing a white powdery substance. So did the

Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization based in New

Haven, Conn. Both organizations were heavy backers of Proposition 8,

the measure in California that narrowly passed Nov. 4, banning same-sex

marriage.

The FBI said it is a "strong possibility" that all three letters