More about anthrax, bentonite, and Agatha Christie

[nancylebov]

http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/407267.html?view=6618595#t6618595

So help me, the murderer (unless things get weirder and scarier) was the guy in charge of the investigation.

And it might actually be true that bentonite is a marker for Iraqi biolabs. I can believe in local variations in lab practice.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Bentonite is also a marker for J. Random Pharmaceutical factory; it (and Fuller's Earth, and Kaolin) have been used as ingredients in medicines since time immemorial. They're just calcinaceous sedimentary rocks (not unlike powdered chalk) that are used for adsorbing substances because of their huge surface area.

[nwhyte]

I used to use it for clearing home-made wine. (It didn't work terribly well. But that may have been my fault.)

[(Anonymous)]

No, it's not clear that he was in charge of the investigation, just that he was well enough placed that he could claim to ABC that he was.