Ed, just to be clear, do you now credit the correctness and authority of the statement by the biological expert working for the Department of Energy says:
Weaponized B. anthracis spores in particular, are very small refined particles which are uniform in size and appearance (approximately 1 to 3 .mu.m in size), highly concentrated, ELECTROSTATICALLY CHARGED, and treated to reduce clumping. Due to their very small size and ability to remain airborne, weaponized B. anthracis spores are more likely to be inhaled and are thus considerably more lethal than unrefined spores. Furthermore, these spores have been shown to re-aerosolize with common office activities such as paper handling and foot traffic.
As an example, particles can include a coating that acts to separate them, RESULTING IN SPACING TOO LARGE FOR VAN DER WAALS FORCES to cause the particles to adhere and thus aggregate and deposit onto surfaces. Various contaminants are of a sufficiently small size (0.5-5 .mu.m) to lodge in the lung tissue, remain in the breathing zone and readily re-suspend
Weaponized B. anthracis spores in particular, are very small refined particles which are uniform in size and appearance (approximately 1 to 3 .mu.m in size), highly concentrated, ELECTROSTATICALLY CHARGED, and treated to reduce clumping.”
Beecher would not say that the spores were not weaponized. He merely says it is mistaken to assume that a state sponsored program is necessary. He wrote: “a widely circulated misconception is that the spores were produced using additives and sophisticated engineering supposedly akin to military weapon production. The issue is usually the basis for implying that the powders were inordinately dangerous compared to spores alone. The persistent credence given to this impression fosters erroneous preconceptions, which may misguide research and preparedness efforts and generally detract from the magnitude of hazards posed by simple spore preparations.”
The dual use technology at issue here is not akin to military weapon production. It is a publicly published patent relating to the concentration of biological agents.
Small-scale processing to maximize aerosolizability is by definition weaponization where you have the small particle size even though “not akin to military weapon production.” He’s just saying there was no sophisticated additive and that a state actor was not needed to make the anthrax. Silica is not a sophisticated additive. You mistakenly read Beecher to be support for the proposition that no silica was used. If he had meant to say that, he would have said that. If you don’t believe me, just ask Dr. Beecher. Whether dry blended or used in the culture medium, there is no reason to view it as akin to military weapons production.
Now it is has been reported that Professor Meselson added those two sentences. I don’t know one way or the other. But guess who peer-reviewed the article in the same journal in February 2007 by the Livermore woman and Dugway fellow?
Beecher wrote a nice note when he forwarded me the article that I gave to you. He said “With compliments.” But be gentle with Ed.
In understanding what the FBI was thinking, on February 26, 2003, they searched two drying experts the same minute they searched Ali’s townhouse. One they arrested, one they didn’t. Expertise is spraydrying. And expertise in mixing with silica. One lived a mile from me.
But neither had expertise in functionalized polymers.
So the FBI was left scratching its head for the next couple of years.
For repeated centrifugation and sequential filtration, nothing beats the US Army-funded MICROBIAL VAC developed in Idaho with testing done in the midwest and consulting done from Iowa State University, where there was a prototype. The fellow arrested had a supervisor and colleague and good friend who consulted on it (doing the stats). He came here to work for IANA and was a friend of al-Hussayen, the IANA webmaster. It concentrated and sequentially filtered the anthrax for the purpose of sampling anthrax on meat carcasses. A nice guy, I called him once to talk but it wasn’t a good time because too much was going on.
Spertzel has always recognized the importance of sequential filtering. In Iraq, they used a coffin-shaped device. The repeated centrifugation leads to what you call “pure spores” and the sequential filtration gets rid of the debris and results in a particle of a uniform small size.