Iraq was supposed to stop ALL research involved with these programs. They were to destroy ALL chemical and biological agents and research. They didn't, and yes the BW strains were viable. As of January 1999 they were still a concern:One of the outstanding, unresolved issues in Iraq's BW program is the amount of culture media that Iraq imported, and on which microorganisms are grown. These were of four main types: Casein, Yeast Extract, Thioglycollate Broth, and Peptone, with much smaller amounts of some other growth media. Large amounts of all but the Thioglycollate broth are unaccounted for. These missing quantities are usually discussed in terms of how much additional anthrax these quantities of growth media might have produced, which Iraq has not accounted for, or how much additional anthrax Iraq might still covertly produce using the missing quantities of culture media. In other words, the agent constantly associated with these missing quantities of media has been anthrax, one of the identified, already reported Iraqi BW agents. This may in fact be the case, and the missing growth media may have been retained and concealed for past, current, or future anthrax production. However, there is the possibility that Iraq produced one of three other as-yet-undisclosed agents. (link) |
