Anthrax germ banks discovered in Mexico.

Anthrax germ banks with spores for sale are available in a suburb of Mexico city. With neither security personnel nor health officials in space suits keeping an eagle eye watch on the samples, the spore banks are a service one can freely avail of provided one is in the know of such things. Criteria to access the spore banks are the display of technical credentials which may be a proficiency in biochemistry or microbiology.

Just on the other side of the border in the United States, since 1997, it has been illegal for laboratories to ship any deadly microbes to destinations in or outside the United States without permission from the Justice Department.

However, in Mexico, the soil itself has a high concentration of live and kicking anthrax spores. Since 1991, more than 110 people have died from the disease contracted in the Mexican countryside. In Mexico City campus, vials of anthrax have their place in the sun in an unlocked, closet-sized office given the dubious heading of "private".

The laboratories of Mexico are probably representative of microbiology laboratories all over the world. After anthrax until recently was no more than an interesting variant of nature's numerous and distinct microscopic creations.