Investigators believe anthrax used in a series of attacks in the US in 2001 was not of military grade as originally thought, a US newspaper reports.

The Washington Post paper says the FBI has widened its investigation into the source of the anthrax after finding it was of a more common variety.

Flashback: FBI & Bush Administration sued over anthrax documents

Of course they claim it is not military grade anthrax, because if it was (and it is), then it would implicate the U.S. military/government as they would be the only ones in the world in possession of such a high grade of anthrax — which even surpassed the highest grade Russia is known to have. “There is no significant signature in the powder that points to a domestic source,” an expert told the paper.

Anthrax powder, sent by mail, killed five people in the US in October 2001.

At least 17 people were taken ill after coming into contact with the powder, which was sent in envelopes to US government offices and media organisations.

‘No additives’

Coming weeks after the 11 September attacks, the anthrax mailings caused panic in the US.

Suspicion originally centred on scientists with access to US defence laboratories.

But no one was charged over the attacks, and according to the Washington Post, the pool of suspects has now been widened.

Officials quoted by the paper say the type of anthrax sent in the post bore none of the hallmarks associated with the “weaponised” form of the disease spores, used by the military.

The powder used in the attacks was reportedly of a common strain and had not been processed to make it more easily dispersible - and therefore, more lethal.

The paper quotes a report by an FBI scientist, Douglas J Beecher, who dismisses as a “widely-circulated misconception” the view that the anthrax spores were produced “using additives and sophisticated engineering supposedly akin to military weapons production”.

According to another scientist interviewed by the Washington Post, although the anthrax used in the attacks was not military-grade, it was of a very high quality.

“Whoever did it was proud of their biology. They grew the spores, spun them down, cleaned up the debris. But there were no additives,” the scientist is quoted as saying.

Source: BBC

From WRH:

“Oh, just about ANYONE could have whipped the stuff up in their kitchen, sooooooooooo no need to look at Fort Detrick and their ex-staffers. Honest. Really. No fooling.”

(Ahem).

What pointed the finger at Fort Detrick as the source of the Anthrax spores used in the letters was not just the high degree of “weaponization” of the spores, but DNA tests which showed the anthrax in the letters to be the exact same strain used at Fort Detrich. Even if one buys this lathetic attempt to blur the issue, and believes in a kitchen-sink bioweapons lab, the fact remains that the original source spores still had to come from Fort Detrich. more