castor beans

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Comments

Foster

.at.lindasue0818 .at.HuffingtonPost As predicted: lone nut cooking up ricin letters in his kitchen; only castor beans, after all.

Thomas

Why not castor bean control or limiting the number of castor beans that you can purchase or castor bean background checks so no more ricin?

Harris

.at.Templesmith Ban Castor Beans.

Cruz

containing a substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin, a highly lethal poison made from castor beans

Robinson

Letter sent to Obama tests positive for Ricin

Abe

A bean plant

Mitchell

Castor Harvest , Beit Keshet 2009.m4v

Reed

.at.MarkBarnack You can make it easy. Castor beans.

Harada

Today an envelope addressed to the office of Mississippi U.S. Senator Roger Wicker was intercepted and tested positive for the poison, ricin. This toxic protein first came to the public's attention in 1978 when a Bulgarian émigré by the name of Georgi Markov was assassinated by the Bulgarian secret police in London. No guns, no grenades, no knives. Just an umbrella! An umbrella especially designed with a spring-loaded device to deliver a pinhead-sized pellet loaded with one of the most potent poisons known to mankind. Waiting at a bus stop, Markov felt a jab in his thigh; turned around and saw a man who muttered a quick apology as he quickly got into a taxi. As Markov later recalled, the man was clutching an umbrella. The Bulgarian expatriate soon started to feel ill and the next day had to be admitted to hospital. He had a high fever and severe abdominal pains. Within a couple of days he was dead.
Ricin is a protein that is found in the seeds of the castor bean plant, the same plant that yields castor oil. Fortunately, ricin is not soluble in oil, so when the oil is extracted from the castor beans and then washed with water, ricin is completely removed. It can however be isolated from the beans, and is extremely toxic if introduced into the bloodstream as in the case of Markov. It can also be dangerous if inhaled or ingested. At one time ricin was considered as a military weapon either by releasing it as a dust over the enemy or by coating bullets to cause a quick death. While there is no danger in consuming castor oil, eating the whole seeds can be deadly. Such poisonings have occurred. Since the seeds are very pretty they are sometimes used to make ornaments. In fact, in Mexico, castor beans are used to make jewelry for tourists. There can be serious reactions from eating a bean or crushing one in the hand and then putting that hand in the mouth. The symptoms are bloody diarrhea, vomiting and then shock. So obviously it is not a good idea to eat your Mexican bean jewelry. At least not unless you’ve cooked it. Heat does destroy the ricin.

Reyes

"Ricin is made from castor beans and can kill within 36 hours. There is no antidote. ".

Walker

Flapjack versus habanero

Dahan

Is Ricin An Effective Biological Terror Agent? - Ricin, which is derived from castor beans, is a highly toxic natu... castor beans

Katō

Aromatic Beans!

Phillips

Is Ricin An Effective Biological Terror Agent?: Ricin, which is derived from castor beans, is a highly toxic n... castor beans

Hé

2nd Letter Contains Lethal Toxin Ricin addressed to Pres. Obama after 1st. to Sen. Wicker

Martínez

elephant

Tanaka

So when are the democrats going to demand a national castor bean registration? And will we have to have a concealed carry permit to keep castor oil on our persons?

And my God, what if someone heats some castor beans in a pressure cooker?

Barnes

Obama Sent Poison Letter

United States authorities on Wednesday intercepted a letter to the White House that tested positive for ricin poison.

The US Secret Service said in a public statement that it has acknowledged the letter addressed to President Barrack Obama and it contained ricin, a deadly suspicious substance.

Earlier on Tuesday, United States lawmakers revealed that a letter addressed to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) had tested positive for the poison.

The Secret Service said the letter was sent to Obama on April 16 and was discovered at a remove White House mail screening facility.

"This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery," the Secret Service said in a statement. The Secret Service White House mail screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through."

The agency said it is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in the investigation.

Foxnews reported that the letters to Obama and Wicker contained similar language and are signed identically.

News of the letters comes just days after two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in a terrorist attack that killed three people and injured more than 170.

Although, government officials have not linked the two events, security has been tightened since the attacks, with visitors asked to take off their shoes before entering some Senate and House office buildings.

Capitol Police issued a message to Senate offices that they were resonding to a suspicious envelope on the third floor of the Russell Senate Office Building. The message directed staff and other personnel to avoid that area until further notice.

An identical message was sent about a suspicous envelope in the Hart Senate Office Building.

Of the letter sent to Wicker, Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance W. Gainer said: “The letter was not outwardly suspicious, which is usually a clue.

“But we want Senate State office employees to beware of what we know, but they must be careful with all mail they open, follow the procedures with which they have been skilled,” he said.

Gainer said previously that the Senate's offsite mail facility has been closed as Capitol Police and the FBI investigated. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Capitol Police have a suspect, who has been known to write letters to members of Congress.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was aware only of the letter to Wicker.

“All we know now is just one,” Reid said, speaking to reporters after an intelligence briefing at the Capitol.

In 2004, a letter addressed to former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) also tested positive for ricin after it was found to contain a white powder while being sorted in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Senate office buildings were closed and decontaminated, but authorities never solved the case.

Ricin is a poison found in castor beans, which can be manufactured from castor bean waste materials, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Ricin works by getting inside the cells of a person’s body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need. Without the proteins, cells die. Eventually this is harmful to the whole body, and death may occur,” the CDC warns.

-Leadership News