Suspicious Powder at Senate Building - RICIN!

[BEER980]

Hazardous Substance
Suspicious Powder Empties Some Offices at Senate Building

Feb. 2— Some workers in a Senate office building were told to leave their offices today after preliminary testing indicated the presence of a hazardous substance. The U.S. Capitol Police said a suspicious powder substance was found at 3 p.m. in a room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, located northeast of the Capitol. A preliminary test found that the substance was hazardous, the police said.

Around 7:20 p.m. a message on the Senate's internal telephone alert system instructed employees in several offices on the south side of the building's fourth floor to report to a large conference room. Other employees were warned to stay away from the south side of the fourth floor. Emergency workers cordoned off the affected area with police "hazardous" tape and set up a decontamination tent.

A senior government source told ABCNEWS the Capitol Police conducted two field tests on the substance, one of which identified it as ricin, a potentially deadly poison derived from castor beans.

The other field test was negative, the official said, adding that the Capitol Police were sending the substance to Fort Detrick in Maryland — home to the the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, where the military conducts biological warfare research — for further testing.
Source

[JQ Public]

hmmm!? wonder why im not hearing much about it. Its breaking news on cnn.com but i don't see nething on cnn.

[BEER980]

They must be too busy with the superbowl half time stunt to worry about it. Just get through wednesday without an incident.

[southerngale]

CAPITOL POLICE: 'SEVERAL CONFIRMATIONS' SUBSTANCE FOUND IN SENATE BUILDING IS RICIN; FINAL TEST RESULTS EXPECTED 5 A.M. TUESDAY

[streetsoldier]

"Uncle Bin (Laden)'s Converted Ricin?"

...and all the Democrats got was anthrax...

[ColdFront77]

hmmm!? wonder why im not hearing much about it. Its breaking news on cnn.com but i don't see nething on cnn.

JQ. I first heard it at 9:10 pm EST on Fox New Channel... it was (of course) a Fox New Alert..... five minutes after you above post.

Senator Bill Frist (the only doctor in the Senate) had a news conference along with a law enforement official at 11:15 pm-ish EST.

[BEER980]

I will take the anthrax over the ricin streetsoldier

[GalvestonDuck]

From what I understand, anthrax is treatable; ricin is not.

But what was the point of ricin powder? Can it be absorbed through the skin or inhaled? I thought it had to be ingested by mouth or inhaled in gas form.

It could be a homegrown terrorist. Didn't someone send a vial of ricin in October with a note demanding better conditions for OTR truckers?

[BEER980]

Ricin is a natural, highly toxic compound that comes from castor beans. It can be inhaled, ingested or injected. There is no antidote for ricin poisoning. A dose the size of the head of a pin could kill an adult. Seven men were arrested in London last year after traces of ricin were found in their apartment. Last October, a package containing ricin was discovered at the Greenville-Spartanburg airport in South Carolina.

As I remember it can take 24 hours to show signs of exposure. It usually take 2-3 days to die. I think I would have held off on this statement.

Sixteen people on the floor where the ricin was found were decontaminated, but Frist, who is a physician, says if symptoms of poisoning have not surfaced in about eight hours, exposure was unlikely.

[southerngale]

Beer...I heard that symtoms usually occur within 4-6 hours and death possible in 24-36 hours. I can't give a source because I don't remember but I'm almost certain it was a doctor and he was on one of the major news networks. I was flipping around at the time.

[mf_dolphin]

Ricin is usually fatal only if injected. A high dose that is inhaled can be fatal but it a lot less likely. Ricin does not spread through the air as easily as anthrax so it's not very good as a area weapon. The other traditional ways of spreading contamination, skin exposure and ingestion, are ineffective with Ricin....