A review of the long-awaited scientific evidence relating to the investigation of the 01 attacks of anthrax letters finally take off. The study, to be conducted by the National Academies, will check the validity of scientific techniques used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to solve the case. What the study will not, as stated in the official description of the academies of the study is to issue a verdict if US Army researcher Bruce Ivins was indeed guilty of the crime, as concluded by FBI officials.
The FBI has been under pressure to disclose its full case against Ivins since July 29, 08, when the researcher commits suicide. The death prevented a trial and prompted accusations from some quarters that the FBI hounded an innocent man to a tragic end. FBI officials responded with press conferences detailing some of the facts of the case, including the scientific methods used to trace the anthrax in the letters to a flask under the burden of Ivins at the US Army Medical Research Institute infectious diseases in Frederick, Maryland. At a hearing last year before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee in September, FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that the agency will ask the academies of veterinary science behind the conclusion.
The FBI will pay academies $ 879,550 for the study, which should take up to 15 months. A statement from the task of academies, the fields of scientific evidence to consider include, but are not limited to:
1. genetic studies that led to the identification of potential sources of B. anthracis recovered from letters;
2. Analysis of four genetic mutations that were found in evidence that are unique to strains of a subset of Ames cultures collected during the investigation;
3. Chemical studies and meetings that examined how, where, and when the spores may have been grown and, where appropriate, additional treatments, they were subjected to;
4. Studies of recovery of spores and bacterial DNA from samples taken and analyzed during the investigation; and
5. the role that cross-contamination might have played in the picture of the evidence.
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The committee will not, however, make an assessment of the probative value of the scientific evidence in any specific component of the investigation, prosecution or civil litigation and not offer views on the guilt or innocence of any person (s) in connection with the 01 B. anthracis mailings, or any other incidents B. anthracis.
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