Page 2 - Caster Beans News Today

Never reached them. white house spokesman jay carney has emphasized this in the past, when other threatening letters were sent to the president. >> the mail sent here is screened and that these tests are undertaken at remote sites to mitigate the risk both to those recipients and to the general population. >> reporter: the fbi is now testing the letters sent to president obama. meanwhile, the new york city police department says that preliminary testing on the bloomberg letter came back positive...

Not much, just a tiny bit if its purified. thats the hitch. caster beans contain ricin and dozens of other products. when caster beans are produced -- or i should say processed to make caster oil, there are a lot of waste products and by products, ricin being one. in order to have a successful, quote, weaponized mix of ricin one has to have a little knowledge, not just crushing them. >> shepard: and tell me what youre thinking is but it sounds like were dealing with yahoos who are mad and sendin...

Its sort of an orangish, pink color and oily. and a source says that, for example, if you crush the caster beans, the things that ricin comes from, what you would get is traces of ricin along with the beans, the material from the beans. therefore, it looks like it wasnt as lethal because it wasnt actually weaponized. it was just contained in the plant from which it comes. >> deb, thanks so much for the latest on that breaking news. stay with us. well be right back. be or your? [ female announcer...

Example, if you crush the caster beans, the things that ricin comes from, what you would get is traces of ricin along with the beans, the material from the beans. therefore, it looks like it wasnt as lethal because it wasnt actually weaponized. it was just contained in the plant from which it comes. >> deb, thanks so much for the latest on that breaking news. stay with us. well be right back. the great outdoors, and a great deal. grrrr ahhh lets leave the deals to hotels.com. perfect! yep, and n...

Federal judge, another to fair child air force base and one thats not been recovered, sent to a cia facility. i asked officials how they would know about the cia letter if it hadnt been retired and they pointed to interviews and other evidence and said, quote, because we may know how many caster beans the man had in his house. >> shepard: doctor leonard cole is with us. its sounding like this isnt weaponized. its not as if its been weaponized. it sounds like someone crashed caster beans and dump...

>> thats why i think its important -- context is important. this isnt fluffy stuff that if it floats through the room, its going to kill people. it sounds like crushed up caster beans. i dont understand why the secret service -- this isnt for you but the secret service clearly knows, investigation under way. of course there is. but the secret service knows if this could have killed the president. they wont tell us anything. that creates fear where maybe fear isnt -- maybe its not the right time....

Theyll also look at the forensics. theyll try to determine whether or not on the envelope or on the letter is there hair? is there saliva samples? there are fingerprints? one of the reasons i think you see the joint terrorism task force is investigating this, is because thats where the federal government coordinates with state and locals and pulls all the federal resources together. including cia and other intelligence resources to help them understand what is this against the mayor? >> how hard...

Determine the, who youll be able to understand the why. >> how dangerous is this stuff, ricin? >> it can be very dangerous, its a potentially toxic substance. a couple things that are important to note is that in and of itself, this is a poison that comes from caster beans as a lot of people know, you can get that ricin, the poisonous substance out of the caster beans without a lot of difficulty. the challenge is to surn that into something that can get into the lungs and make someone sick or ev...

Was mixed. theyll analyze whether the two letters, whether it was from the same batch of the mixture of the compound of ricin. all those things will help investigators lead down the path to who. and once you determine the who, youll be able to understand the why. >> right. so, how dangerous is this stuff, ricin? >> well, it can be very dangerous. its a very potentially toxic substance. a couple of things that are important to note is that in and of itself, this is a poison that comes from caster...

It can happen, but again, based on what deb is describing, this sort of oilier substance as opposed to these very small, almost granular spore-type things, it sounds unlikely. >> fran, in the world of, you know, terror and people who follow and track this stuff, how high is ricin on the list of things people are concerned about? i mean, is it difficult to obtain? is it difficult to break down and weaponize, as you say? >> well, the component pieces to a ricin compound are actually readily availa...