Anthrax in Mail Was Newly Made, Investigators Say

New York Times ^ | June 22,2002 | DAVID JOHNSTON and WILLIAM J. BROAD

[aruanan]

Did it have a "Best if used by:" date?

[winodog]

How many different stories will we hear about the anthrax? We have heard so many different versions of the type, where it came from , who sent it, etc, etc. I dont believe anything from gov.org or the media in the USA.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

You forget to add VIA DRUDGE and add his siren.

It took them this long to discover this?

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[BARLF]

Did any of the scientist that died fit the profile?

[keri]

The investigators are uncertain whether the perpetrator is American or foreign.

Progress?

[John W]

I try to avoid that even if thats how I come across things.We ain't there,he doesn't need to be here.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[bvw]

Red herring.

[John W]

In what way?

[dogbyte12]

Being two years old or less can mean several things. Well two mainly. It could have been stolen within the past 2 years, or created from a sample stolen longer ago, and manufactured more recently. Nothing in this article suggests to me that they know the difference.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Did the antrax show a secret message in micrscopes saying put on seat belts we are reebok wired wacko nuts?

[cmsgop]

What Did Martha Stewert know and when did she know it ?

[MinuteGal]

Martha uses fresh ingredients only, selected at 6 AM every morning when she hits the riverfront markets with her bicycle, straw basket and Gucci keds!

Leni

[bvw]

Or it just mean that somebody is overconfident in the accuracy of his carbon dating technique.

[aruanan]

Being two years old or less can mean several things. Well two mainly. It could have been stolen within the past 2 years, or created from a sample stolen longer ago, and manufactured more recently. Nothing in this article suggests to me that they know the difference.

Being two years old, in this case, means that it was two years or less since the spores became metabolically inactive and no longer ago than two years since they were grown. It doesn't mean simply that they came from a sample that was stolen within the past two years. Radiocarbon dating via AMS couldn't tell you whether or not a sample had been stolen. The anthrax may very well have come from a sample stolen more than two years ago. However, the fact that the current batch is no more than two years old means that what was used wasn't old material but something that was grown recently (that is, it didn't come from some vial of anthrax that someone swiped 20 years ago), meaning that someone within the past two years had or had acquired the technology necessary both a. to grow the stuff and b. to prepare it as weapons-grade anthrax.

[aruanan]

Or it just mean that somebody is overconfident in the accuracy of his carbon dating technique.

No, changes on the order of days in C14 content can be measured via atomic mass spectrometry with very small (less than a mg) of sample.

[aruanan]

Did any of the scientist that died fit the profile?

You mean the guy that fell off the bridge?

[bvw]

Okay, but where did the fixed carbon come from?