Ivins’ Strain Of Anthrax Was Not So Rare After AllRemember, at the beginning of the week, when the New York Times reported that “at least 10 people” had access to that critical flask of anthrax linking Dr. Bruce Ivins to the 2001 anthrax attacks?
At the time, we thought that was really significant. Ten people? How did the FBI eliminate the other nine people as suspects to know Ivins was the guilty one?
But then on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the number of people with access to that anthrax was much higher.
In addition, more than 100 people had access to the anthrax in question, a larger number than many had previously believed.
Now today, the Washington Post reports that the flask in Ivins’ lab was not the only one containing that particular strain matched to the 2001 letters.
FBI officials said the powdered bacteria mailed to news outlets and Senate offices had a distinct genetic heritage that precisely matched anthrax spores Ivins kept in a flask in his laboratory. But the officials also acknowledged that 15 other labs had the same strain, known as RMR-1029.
At this rate, by the end of next week, we’ll find out that this strain of anthrax is typically found in most 10th-grade science labs.
