Remember when the FBI informed us that the notorious anthrax letters sent through the mail came as a complete surprise, especially the fact that the contaminated letters cross-contaminated others? Well by now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the FBI lied to us yet again. 

According to an October 1998 Discover magazine article entitled “Filthy Lucre,” the FBI was fully aware of the fact that counting/sorting machines were capable of cross-contaminating items made of paper. [1] The entire article was devoted to the scientific study of money including a historical, and anthropological view. Of course the article focused on the cross-contamination of currency at the federal reserve’s counting/sorting machines, but even a fool should be able to understand that there can’t be a tremendous difference between those machines and the ones at the post office that do pretty much the same thing. 
 
Apparently the Japanese are light years ahead of our FBI, according to this article anyway, they have been well aware of the fact that currency is an effective vector for bacteria, as evidenced by the fact that Japanese citizens can go to what is referred to in Japan as a “clean ATM”, and have their currency, the Yen, pressed for 1/10th of a second at 392 degrees in order to sterilize them. [2] Hitachi manufactures this clean ATM, and according to the article, it is quite popular and has been for many years in Japan. 
 
In 1997, [Four years before 9-11] Tom Jourdan, chief of the Materials and Devices unit at the FBI lab in Washington D.C. found that ninety percent of the dollar bills his unit tested came back positive for the presence of cocaine hydrochloride. Jourdan stated that it was his belief that, “mechanical currency counters are homogenizing money… one contaminated bill brushed through the counting machine at the bank can contaminate the entire stack.” [3] In other words the FBI conducted a study that revealed that mechanical counters were cross-contaminating money, and they knew back in 1997 that one contaminated dollar bill could contaminate an entire stack of bills. How hard is it to infer that the same would prove true with envelopes at the United States Post Office? The answer of course is that it wouldn’t be difficult at all – the same mechanics are at work with the mechanical counters/sorters and the vector, paper, is essentially the same. Admittedly currency is a better vector with its cotton/linen composition, but at the microscopic level, standard envelope paper is very porous and can carry anthrax spores quite efficiently as evidenced by the fact that several Americans died as a result of inhaling spores that had become impregnated into envelopes at the Post Office. [4] 
 
The FBI will never critique this article, but if they were to try, they’d probably lie and suggest that cocaine hydrochloride particulate is smaller than anthrax spores and for this reason they didn’t think that anthrax would so efficiently cross-contaminate envelopes at the Post Office. The fact is, weaponized anthrax spores, like those mailed to Senator Tom Daschle are generally between 1/25,000th and 10/25,000th of an inch in diameter. Photographic microscopy in the article, “Filthy Lucre,” clearly revealed that the cocaine particulate photographed within the weave of the cotton/linen dollar was some seven times larger than 10/25,000th of an inch in diameter, yet couldn’t be seen without the use of a microscope. The fact is; the FBI knew in 1997 that anthrax and other bacterial agents could not only contaminate money and remain viable on its surface for some time, but that it could also “cross-contaminate” other bills. There is no doubt whatsoever that they knew the same would prove true at the Post Office, but like everything else around us today, the FBI lied about it and attempted to fool the American public. 
 
If the FBI were truly interested in finding and apprehending the “Anthrax Killer,” they’d be investigating Philip Zack, who once worked at Fort Detrick Maryland and was caught red handed diverting anthrax spores several years prior to 9-11 and later writing an anonymous letter attempting to implicate or frame a scientist by the name of Dr. Ayaad Assaad. [5] Instead the FBI focused its investigation on one Steven J. Hatfill and employed the media to conduct an orchestrated smear campaign on Hatfill’s character in order to convict him in the court of public opinion. [6] When their smear campaign fell apart for lack of evidence, the FBI then dropped its investigation and the media has subsequently remained silent, with nary a word about anyone else possibly being connected to the case, despite the overwhelming evidence implicating Philip Zack. 
 
Below are some other interesting facts associated with pathogens and currency/paper: 
 
Discover magazine documented a study that was conducted on two $20 bills, one $1 bill, and a quarter. All were wiped across a Petrie dish containing an agar base, and all produced positive results within 24 hours. The following types of bacteria were identified in the Discover magazine study. Staphylococci, micrococci, diptheroids, and propriobacteria. [7] 
 
The article Filthy Lucre then cited a study conducted in 1972 by the Journal of the American Medical Association [8], This study cultured two hundred dollar bills and coins and found Staphylococcus Aureus, a pathogenic bacteria on 13% of coins, and 42% of bills tested. 
 
In 1997, another study was conducted by another journal, Infections in Medicine. This study concluded that 3% of all coins, and 11% of all the bills they tested were positive for bacteria. 
 
In 1998, a study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco revealed that out of a hundred and thirteen examples of “real life,” cash they cultured, most of the bills grew “harmless bacteria” but 18% of coins, and 7% of bills manifested pathogenic bacteria, including E-Coli, and Staph Aureus. Shirley Lowe, a microbiologist credited with conducting the study on behalf of the University stated that “half the money,” she obtained from a doughnut shop grew Staphylococcus Aureus. Lowe stated, “Anything that can get on hands can get on money.” 
 
The article Filthy Lucre also revealed that a study conducted at the Houston Advanced Research Center in Texas found that 70-80% of all currency had trace amounts of cocaine hydrochloride on them. In older bills that had been in circulation for some time, 90% manifested trace amounts of cocaine. [9] 
 
The Journal of Forensic Sciences conducted a study in May 1998 that concluded that more than 93% of all bills tested had trace amounts of cocaine hydrochloride present. 
 
What does all this mean? What it means to this writer is that the FBI’s claim of ignorance was a complete lie and that their focus on the innocent Steven J. Hatfill suggests a willful attempt to ignore the far more compromised Philip Zack, who should be under investigation at this very moment for several murders and engaging in terrorism against his own nation, thus committing treason during a time of war.

Curt Maynard works for himself and resides in Louisiana with his wife and three children. He can be reached at: danielleceleste@hotmail.com. 

ENDNOTES 
 
[1] Discover magazine, October. 1998. p. 78. 

[2] Ibid. 

[3] Ibid. p. 84. 

[4] The FBI reported that the anthrax in the letter mailed to Senator Tom Daschle was between 1 and 10/25,000th of an inch in diameter. 

[5] This frame job fell completely apart, but details of the case can be read in an otherwise worthless book entitled Amerithrax by Robert Graysmith, a book that carefully excluded [intentionally?] any and all mention of Philip Zack. 

[6] The FBI attempted to do the same thing to Richard Jewell, by ignoring evidence that would have exonerated him in the Olympic Park bombing. Fortunately for Jewell, he was able to prove his innocence and prove that the FBI attempted to frame him. 

[7] Discover magazine, October. 1998. p. 78. 

[8] Month, unspecified. 

[9] Discover magazine, October. 1998. p. 82.