Russian scientist says no trace of polonium on Arafat's remains

Russian news agency Interfax reports:

The head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) Vladimir Uiba believes that the cause of death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat could not be polonium poisoning.

"He could not have been poisoned with polonium. Russian experts conducting a study said traces of this substance were not found," - said Uiba to "Interfax" on Tuesday.

He added that experts FMBA conducted a detailed examination of the remains of Arafat. However, they regularly inform the Russian Foreign Ministry on the progress of investigations.

However, the article continues:

On Monday, October 14, the newspaper "Kommersant" quoted sources reported that an official investigation into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has already completed and led to conclusions: Palestinian leader was poisoned with polonium.

It appears that the Lancet article I noted yesterday had been completely misrepresented by Al Jazeera as if it was a confirmation by independent scientists that Arafat had been poisoned, when it was in fact a paper written by the same people that Al Jazeera hired to begin with the test his clothing.

News outlets ran with the false Al Jazeera version of events as if there were new revelations, but there weren't.