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> Most experts concur that the manufacture of a lethal anthrax aerosol They didn't make a lethal anthrax aerosol, they used a completely harmless vaccine strai
by learc83 15y ago
> Most experts concur that the manufacture of a lethal anthrax aerosol
They didn't make a lethal anthrax aerosol, they used a completely harmless vaccine strain of anthrax, I would say that classifies them as amateurs.
If it really required vast bioengineering expertise to make an anthrax aerosol, one would think they wouldn't make such a ridiculous mistake.
- DanBC 15y agoThe hard part is aerosolising the anthrax. As to using the wrong anthrax - Identifying anthrax is hard. PDF: (http://jcm.asm.org/content/39/12/4566.full.pdf http://jcm.asm.org/content/39/12/4566.full.pdf) >Strain identification in Bacillus anthracis has been problematic due to a lack of distinguishing features, both phenotypic and molecular (1). With the identification of variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs), identification of strains (unique genotypes) by multiple-locus VNTR analysis (MLVA) is now possible, and worldwide clone-based diversity patterns have been demonstrated (2). The VNTR loci are hypervariable and have multiple allelic states that provide high discrimination capacity for differentiating among strains and for identifying evolutionary relationships. That's from 2001. Aum Shinrikyo incident was in 1993.
- rbanffy 15y agoThere's easy way - test it on humans. The strain that kills the host is the deadly one. Remember these people don't think dying is bad - they usually believe in an afterlife.
- DanBC 15y agoMaybe spraying the aerosol over a populated Japanese city for a week was the test on a human population?
- rbanffy 15y agoBad idea because it requires a lot of effort (you need large qantities of tbe agent) and may call unwanted attention. It would be better to test the sample on a volunteer before. Then you weaponize the agent that best matches your needs.