Suspicious powder found in us senate building

[Winters 1]

This just in;

AP report

Here is the text:

Quote[/b] ]

By SIOBHAN McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - U.S. Capitol police were investigating a potentially hazardous white powder reportedly discovered in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

A government official said an initial field test indicated it could be the potentially deadly substance ricin, and that further tests were being conducted at Fort Detrick in Maryland, with results expected by Tuesday.

The powder was found in an envelope in Frist's office suite on the fourth floor of the Dirksen building, one of three structures occupied by senators and their staffs, said a congressional source speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sgt. Contricia Ford, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, said authorities were conducting more extensive tests. The Homeland Security Department is monitoring the situation, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

Ricin, derived from the castor bean plant, can kill within days. Twice as deadly as cobra venom, ricin is relatively easily made. It may be inhaled, ingested or injected.

Police found traces of ricin in a north London apartment last January and arrested seven men of North African origin in connection with the virulent toxin that has been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq (news - web sites).

A package containing ricin was also found at a post facility serving Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina in October.

[Winters 1]

and from CNN

CNN Report

and the text;

Quote[/b] ]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Preliminary tests on a white, powdery substance found in the mailroom of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist indicate the presence of the deadly substance ricin, a Homeland Security official said Monday.

A U.S. Capitol police spokeswoman said the department is investigating the matter but would not comment on the substance found, saying only that preliminary tests were positive for a "hazardous substance."

The substance is to be tested further at the Army research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

The Homeland Security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said those results could be back as soon as Tuesday.

Authorities said people should stay clear of the south side of the fourth floor of the Dirksen Senate Office building.

The substance was found about 3 p.m., and authorities were contacted.

Capitol police said there was nothing overtly suspicious about the envelope -- except for the powdery substance that fell out. Sgt. Contricia Sellers-Ford said there was nothing threatening or otherwise noteworthy about the letter inside the envelope.

She said the envelope was "clipped," meaning it was run through a machine that irradiates all the mail that comes to Capitol Hill -- standard procedure ever since the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Five people died and 13 others were sickened in four states and the District of Columbia when anthrax-laced letters were sent to two U.S. senators and a number of media outlets.

Two of the dead were postal workers who were infected while processing mail. No one has been arrested in connection with the anthrax case.

Authorities stressed the ricin results were preliminary and that field tests often prove unreliable. They also pointed out that though ricin is an effective weapon against a single person, it is difficult to use against large numbers of people at once.

Ricin is a natural, highly toxic compound that comes from castor beans, used to make castor oil. It can be inhaled, ingested or injected.

There is no known antidote, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One milligram of ricin, a dose the size of the head of a pin, can kill an adult.

If inhaled, ricin can cause death in 36 to 48 hours from failure of the respiratory and circulatory systems.

If ingested, it causes nausea, vomiting and bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system.

Injected ricin immediately kills the muscles and lymph nodes near the site of the injection. Failure of the major organs and death usually follows, the CDC said.

In a notorious Cold War assassination, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, living in London, England, was killed in 1978 by a poison dart filled with ricin and fired from an umbrella.

In October, traces of ricin were discovered inside a small metal container in an envelope at a postal handling facility in Greenville, South Carolina. With the poison was an "angry, unsigned note."

Several U.S. agencies are offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

The Dirksen building was one of the buildings affected by the anthrax mailings in 2001. Its offices were closed for days while authorities cleaned its mailroom.

[edc 0]

Uh-oh. This could be bad. Hopefully the test's just incorrect.

[Pipski 0]

She said the envelope was "clipped," meaning it was run through a machine that irradiates all the mail that comes to Capitol Hill -- standard procedure ever since the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Fat lot of good that'll do. Ricin's a toxin, not an organism, you could irradiate the arse off it and it'd still be patent.

[Bernadotte 0]

The bad news is there's no know treatment for Ricin poisoning and death is very painful.

The good news is that it's far less potent than Anthrax and it takes a quite a bit more to infect someone via an airborne pathway.

[Pipski 0]

Well, ricin doesn't really have an `infectious dose'. It's basically a poison so the question is did you inhale enough to cause morbidity/mortality. Unless the air is pretty thick with it or you're exposed for a long period it's unlikely that you will. The real danger is if people don't realise they've been exposed and get it on their fingers and later transfer it to their mouth. Or get it in a cut.

[Vognsen 0]

Yep, or some1 puts it in the watersuply

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]Yep, or some1 puts it in the watersuply

Drink up, kids...

[Balschoiw 0]

maybe that´s just another preemptive strike

origin unknown of course

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]maybe that´s just another preemptive strike  

origin unknown of course

In Frist's office ?

[denoir 0]

Since it's not suitable as an large-scale contaminating agent and it's easy and cheap to produce, my bets would be on some local amateur.

There are a lot of nut-cases around, that are not necessarily connected to some larger scale terrorist organization.

Here we had recently some anarchist nuts from Bologna sending letter bombs to various EU government officials. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the attempted attacks.

[Winters 1]

Earlier today i was watching the news and they had one of the homeland security guys on and he was saying that Ricin is prefered by "home grown" terrorists and not really by Al Q.

[toadeater 0]

Since it's not suitable as an large-scale contaminating agent and it's easy and cheap to produce, my bets would be on some local amateur.

I bet it came from Texas.

[Pipski 0]

Since it's not suitable as an large-scale contaminating agent and it's easy and cheap to produce, my bets would be on some local amateur.

It is easy and cheap to produce but you need one FRIG of a lot of castor beans! If it is some survivalist hick then it shouldn't be too hard to work out which one - just cross reference militant rednecks with bulk castor bean purchases.

[edc 0]

According to a "law enforcement official", there was a letter that sent to the White House in November, that contained ricin.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110270,00.html

[ralphwiggum 6]

Since it's not suitable as an large-scale contaminating agent and it's easy and cheap to produce, my bets would be on some local amateur.

agreed.

also, what a waste of ricin....to kill <s>trash</s> politicians?

Quote[/b] ]Here we had recently some anarchist nuts from Bologna sending letter bombs to various EU government officials. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the attempted attacks.

ouch. but on the other hand they could have sent rotten Bologna sandwhich, which is WMD in all aspect.

[EiZei 0]

Think Al-Qaeda would have enough resources to put large amounts of ricin into multiple water supplies at the same time, think about the damage not to mention the fear caused.

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]Here we had recently some anarchist nuts from Bologna sending letter bombs to various EU government officials. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the attempted attacks.

ouch. but on the other hand they could have sent rotten Bologna sandwhich, which is WMD in all aspect.

............ or SPAM.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]ouch. but on the other hand they could have sent rotten Bologna sandwhich, which is WMD in all aspect.

Quote[/b] ]............ or SPAM.

Or spamming .