The 14 provisional members of the National Academy of Sciences study committee include medical doctors, chemists, microbiologists and a U.S. District Court judge.

The academy will consider public comments on the proposed committee membership before finalizing the roster.

The FBI requested the study last year, after critics questioned the validity of the science it used in matching the anthrax used in the 2001 mailings with that in a flask controlled by Bruce Ivins, a Fort Detrick microbiologist.

Ivins committed suicide on July 26, 2008.

According to the academy, the review will examine the techniques the FBI used for their scientific reliability and use in forensic validation.

It will also examine whether the FBI reached appropriate conclusions based on its use of those techniques.

The study will specifically not examine how persuasive the scientific evidence might be in regards to an investigation or any prosecution or litigation. It will also not make any determination about the guilt or innocence of any person in regard to the anthrax mailings.

The study will take 18 months and will cost approximately $880,000.

The academy will take comments on the web at www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/CommitteeView.aspx?key=49105.

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