Federal employees under lockdown after suspicious substance found

ATLANTA - Employees at the sister agency to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry - were required to stay in their offices Thursday after a powdery substance that turned out to not be a bioterrorist agent was found in the building. <br> <br> A worker found a suspicious substance inside the building Thursday morning. CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben said the sample was not mail-related and there were no threatening notes that accompanied the sample. <br> <br> The sample tested negative for any on the CDC&#39;s list of dangerous bioterrorist agents. Harben said the sample likely was powder from a type of woodboard used in office buildings. <br> <br> The agency, which is administered by the CDC but funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rents office space at Century Center near Clairmont Road and Interstate 85 in Atlanta. <br> <br> Harben said agency workers were allowed to leave the building at 3 p.m. She said, ``They wanted to make sure nobody took anything anywhere else, unbeknownst to them.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> DeKalb County and the FBI are involved in the investigation.