Page 3 - Caster Beans News Today

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. >> 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 challe...

Turn it into a weapon? >> its really not that difficult to get hold of ricin. there are people who can purify it. it comes from what is known as caster beans. so its a naturally occurring poison. does it have to be purified. and it can be concentrated. it can be delivered in a variety of ways. unfortunately, letters is an effective way of delivering this poison. its not an infection. its not as though it can spread from one person to another but the toxin can be deadly. >> and, fran, just last w...

Very small, granular spore type things, it sounds unlikely. >> in the world of 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 said? >> well, the component pieces to a ricin compound are actually readily available. sanjay mentioned caster beans, thats the basic component, you crush it down and grind it. in the terrorism context, the way we s...

Envelope and possibly be poisoning other people. it can happen. but, again, based on what deb is describing, this sort of oilier substance as opposed to very small, almost granular spore type things, it sounds unlikely. >> in the world of terror and people who follow and track this stuff, how high is ricin on the list of things people are concerned about? is it difficult to obtain? is it difficult to break down and weaponize, as you said? >> well, the component pieces to rice income pound are ac...

Of the compound, how competently it was mixed. theyll analyze whether the two letters, whether it was from the same batch of 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. san gentleman, how dangerous is this stuff, ricin? >> it can be can very dangerous. its a very potentially toxic substance. a couple things that are important to note, is that in and of itself, t...

How dangerous is this situation, how easy is it now to create a ricin scare? >> well, piers, we should start by reminding people, look, there have been inconsistent preliminary tests, typically inaccurate, which is why they sent it to the lab. the ricin is actually the recipe for it, is easily accessible on the internet. we found it all died related manuals before. because its on the internet, this does not require -- making the basic components, theyre easily accessible caster beans. the basic ...

Messages that mentions libya or benghazi from september the 11th, the day of the attack, until november the 7th, the day after the election. rnc officials say they want to know whether campaign staffers helped edit the so-called talking points about the attack. the once u.n. ambassador susan rice used on sunday shows five days later. political detractors say is little more than a fishing expedition. waiting for confirmation on fbi threatening letter somebody went to the contained the poison rici...

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 intelligence and other resources. >> how hard is it to get hold of ricin and how difficult is it to weaponize it? turn it into a weapon? >> its really not that difficult to get hold of ricin. there are people who can purify it. it comes from what is known as caster beans. so its a naturally occurring po...

Learning that they are doing better. ricin is a toxic substance found in caster beans. and it recently turned up in letters sent to president obama, a u.s. senator, and a judge in mississippi. no word of any suspects in this latest case but police say the letters threaten mayor bloomberg over his calls for stricter gun laws. eric shawn tracking developments now live in the newsroom. eric? >> harris, if you inhale ricin, you can die. and somebody apparently objects so strongly to mayor michael bl...

Good morning. im diana perez. >> im john muller. here are the top headlines we are following this morning on "world news now." >> relatives of the dead boston marathon bombing suspect will claim his body now that his wife agreed to release it. tamerlan tsarnaevs body has been at medical examiners since his death. president obama said until there is proof that syria used chemical weapons he will not consider military action. during his news conference yesterday, the president said he will push ...