[2] From the early 1980s through 2004 the US Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted about 2,500 analyses on cases submitted by law-enforcement groups.
The report also concluded that the seven trace elements selected for the analyses (arsenic, antimony, tin, copper, bismuth, silver and cadmium) are acceptable for sample correlation.
The greatest caveat in the report was that the statistical tests as applied by the FBI could cause confusion and misinterpretation when transmitted to prosecutors or when explained to a trial jury.
This report helped the FBI decide in 2004 to voluntarily cease offering the analysis to law-enforcement entities.
[4] The U.S. government has fought releasing the list of the estimated 2,500 cases over three decades in which it performed the analysis, which may have led to false convictions.