Anthrax:  Maryland Pond Search Turns Up No New Evidence

Law enforcement sources have said that soil samples taken from a pond near Frederick, Md., which the FBI drained as part of its investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, tested negative for anthrax, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 3).

The FBI spent three weeks and $250,000 to drain the pond, where agents had earlier recovered pieces of laboratory equipment (see GSN, June 30).  However, the operation revealed only discarded items, such as a gun and a bicycle, that appear to be unrelated to the anthrax attacks, sources said.

“Clearly there were no home runs,” a law enforcement source said.

Investigators are now focusing on working with scientists to determine the genetic code of the anthrax used in the attacks in an attempt to link it to a specific laboratory, law enforcement sources said.  In addition, investigators are also reinterviewing people, the Post reported (Lengel/Gugliotta, Washington Post, Aug. 1).

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Anthrax:  White House Orders NIH to Research New Vaccine Without Additional Funding

The White House has told the U.S. National Institutes of Health that it must conduct research on a next-generation anthrax vaccine without additional funding, Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday (see GSN, July 11).

Funding for the vaccine project was not included in the $1.75 billion allocated for biological defense research in 2003 and 2004, according to Newsday.  The project marks the first time in NIH history that the agency has been ordered to conduct a specific research project and reallocate funds from other projects to carry it out, Fauci said.

To make up for the lack of allocated funding for the vaccine project, hundreds of scientists have seen their research grants become reduced, Newsday reported.  For example, many four-year grants have been reduced by six months.

“We’re not happy about it, but we tried to do what was least painful,” Fauci said (Laurie Garret, Newsday, July 28).

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