Fresh anthrax

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

The person behind last fall’s anthrax attacks probably cultivated the deadly spores himself, and could strike again, federal officials said last week. Government scientists used radiocarbon dating tests to determine that the anthrax mailed to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office was less than 2 years old. The freshness of the anthrax indicates that the culprit probably didn’t steal it from a stockpile, but made it himself in a sophisticated lab. “It was grown, and therefore it can be grown again and again,” a government official said. The attacks killed five people. FBI profilers believe a domestic scientist with a grudge against the government mailed the spores to Capitol Hill and several other locations. Agents have narrowed their search to a list of about 50 suspects.