To: OREN YANIV, ALISON GENDAR and MICHAEL WHITE  (The reporters/writers of http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/29/2007-06-29_cops_defuse_explosives_dealer_on_si.html),


	It is apparent to me much of the information published in the article was false. As a practicing chemist, many things can be explained. Potassium nitrate is an oxidizer, it provides oxygen for combustion, you can put a flame to it, it might burn slowly, it IS NOT explosive. Yes, it's possible to use it in explosives, but by itself it is not, and as my next paragraph explains, this was most likely not the purpose in addition to resale.

	"Although only small amounts of potassium nitrate, sulfur, mercury and peroxide were found inside, authorities recovered 2,500 pounds of the nitrate less than a mile away in a Public Storage facility on Goethals Road North."  Due to the fact he had sulfur, he was most likely making blackpowder out of it, sulfur and KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) are two of the three main ingridients needed for black powder, which is a main component in fireworks. Black powder, also known as gun powder, "..is still manufactured today but primarily for use in fireworks, model rocket engines, and reproductions of muzzleloading weapons."-Wikipedia
	It was very displeasing to me to see how Potassium Nitrate, numerous times in this article, was referenced to as explosives. Just wanted to voice my opinion. I'm not leaving my credentials due to the nature of this article.

-A concerned Long Island Chemist