What Is Ricin?
April 17, 2013
by Mark Snowiss
Initial tests on the letter sent to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi tested positive for ricin, a potentially fatal natural toxin.
But the FBI said additional testing is needed as field and preliminary tests produce inconsistent results.
"Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin," according to the bureau. "Those tests are in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours."
In a statement late Tuesday, the U.S. Capitol Police said more tests would be conducted at the Army's biomedical research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
What is Ricin?
Ricin is a highly potent poison that is naturally produced when castor beans are processed for their oil, a common practice throughout the world.
The toxin is part of the waste mash from making the oil and can be a powder, a mist or a pellet, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If inhaled, injected or ingested, an extremely small dose of ricin can quickly produce initial symptoms and kill a person within 36 to 48 hours due to respiratory or circulatory system failure. There is no known cure.
The major symptoms depend on the means of exposure and include breathing difficulties, fever, cough and nausea for inhaled ricin.
If significant amounts of the poison are swallowed, vomiting, diarrhea, severe dehydration and possible seizures can follow. Over several days, liver, spleen and kidney failure could result in death.
Ricin is not contagious and the CDC says it would take "a deliberate act" to make the substance and "use it to poison people." Ricin is not typically absorbed through the skin and unintentional exposure is unlikely. Medical experts point out it is a much less potent killer than anthrax.
Other cases
Letters tainted with anthrax appeared in post offices, newsrooms and U.S. congressional offices after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, resulting in five deaths and several illnesses.
Ricin previously turned up in a U.S. Senate mailroom in 2004, forcing authorities to temporarily shut down two Senate office buildings.
In 2003, Islamist militants were arrested in Britain for planning to put ricin in food on a British military base.
In a notorious 1978 case, Bulgarian journalist Georgi Markov, who had defected to London, died after he was attacked by a man with an umbrella rigged to inject a ricin pellet under his skin.
Markov's murder remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Cold War. The Bulgarian secret service and the Soviet KGB are thought to have ordered his assassination.
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