The first place I began to look was on the Internet. There were a number of websites containing information about anthrax. So I decided to start with newspaper and magazine articles. .
My first major article gave me a lot of information about recent events going on with anthrax. For instance, at first the government stated that the person sending anthrax-laced letters to news organizations and Capitol Hill was probably a "grudge-bearing, sociopath male laboratory nerd with knowledge of the geography of Trenton, N.J." (Klaidman, Barry, and Hosenball 4) This really helped me a lot because I discovered where the recent outbreaks of anthrax might be coming from. I also found out the U.S. postal services are using up to date technology such as the electron beam irradiation of the mail. (Louise) As I further did my research I later found out that the anthrax laced letters were suppose to be tied in with someone in the Taliban. Then I later found that "military sources confirmed that anthrax traces had been found in several al-Qaeda training facilities." (Novak, Viveca, and Mark) "Troops found 50 to 60 sites in the country where it seemed al-Qaeda was studying or trying to make and weaponize anthrax." (Novak, Viveca, and Mark) Of course this left me confused. I also learned about a man named Stephen Leppla who studies anthrax. Leppla and his colleagues have dismantled the bacteria and rendered its toxin to a relatively harmless molecule. Leppla never intended to get involved in cancer treatment, but as he probed the mystery of how the toxin kills healthy cells, he began to wonder if the same lethal poisons might be turned against cancer cells. The toxin was tested on 60 different kinds of tumor cells. (Sobel) So it is now a possibility that anthrax can help fight cancer. There is also a water company called Innova Pure Water. They have been developing a personal biological water filter capable of removing anthrax spores from drinking water.
