Homeland Security

DATE=2/3/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-312651

TITLE=U-S/RICIN (L-UPDATE)

BYLINE=LEAH KRAKINOWSKI

DATELINE=NEW YORK

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: Postal inspectors in the northeastern city of Wallingford, Connecticut are investigating an unidentified powder found in an envelope addressed to the Republican National Committee. From V-O-A's New York bureau, Leah Krakinowski reports that a postal employee spotted the gray, sandy powder leaking out of an envelope in a mailroom late Monday.

TEXT: This latest discovery follows the earlier detection of a white powder that tested positive for the deadly poison, ricin, in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office in Washington. Sixteen people in the vicinity of the toxin have undergone a decontamination process.

Investigators say both the powder in Senator Frist's office and the suspicious substance in the Connecticut postal facility were delivered through the mail system. Connecticut postal officials say it could be more than 24 hours before authorities can identify the suspicious substance.

Ricin is a naturally occurring toxin found in castor beans. The beans are used to manufacture a widely used industrial lubricant. If inhaled in its raw form, the tiniest drop of ricin can kill within days.

Senator Frist said at a news conference that the discovery of ricin might be the work of bio-terrorists.

/// FRIST ACT ///

Somebody in all likelihood manufactured this with the intent to harm, and this is a criminal investigation that will be underway.

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Mr. Frist said several Senate office buildings would remain closed, pending a full investigation.

/// FRIST ACT ///

We made a decision based on the procedures that are quite thorough and comprehensive to close the three Senate office buildings today.

/// END ACT ///

Meanwhile, postal inspectors, FBI agents, local police, and the state hazardous materials team in Connecticut continue to investigate the latest discovery of a suspicious powder.

The Wallingford facility is the same postal center at which investigators found anthrax spores in 2001. A 94-year-old woman died in 2001 after inhaling the bacteria. Investigators believe she contracted anthrax from mail that passed through the Wallingford sorting center. (SIGNED)

NEB/LK/BJS/RH/RAE