that you made about just contact, would be a danger. because it is not going to penetrate skin. conceivably, it could get through an open sore or an abrasion. how easy is it probably getting the information from the internet, from manuals and so on. how easy is it for somebody, a regular joe in the street to sit down, get on the computer, go to his local store and create deadly ricin? unfortunately, it is easier than a lot of other potential bio-agents, and that is because it comes from a castor bean, which is part of a naturally occurring plant. now we re all familiar with the castor oil and ricin, the biproduct of it is readily available. but you still have to pureify it, and it could be in a deadly form.
i would question the comment that you made about just contact, would be a danger. because it is not going to penetrate skin. conceivab conceivably, it could get through an open sore or an abrasion. how easy is it probably getting the information from the internet, from manuals and so on. how easy is it for somebody, a regular joe in the street to sit down, get on the computer, go to his local store and create deadly ricin? unfortunately, it is easier than a lot of other potential bio-agents, and that is because it comes from a castor bean, which is part of a naturally occurring plant. now we re all familiar with the castor oil and ricin, the biproduct of it is readily available. but you still have to pureify
yesterday shows why officials arrested james everett dutschke. he s the man accused of sending letters tainted with the toxic substance to president obama and two other people. but the affidavit does not provide a motive. here s alina machado. reporter: we now know what led federal prosecutors to charge james everett dutschke in the ricin investigation. in an fbi affidavit, agents say their surveillance team saw dutschke remove items from the former martial arts studio he owned in tupelo and dump them in a trash bin. one of those items, a dust mask, tested positive for ricin. ricin was also found inside the martial arts studio in sink drains and on the floor. dutschke ordered 100 castor bean seeds last month through ebay. castor bean is used in the production of ricin, which can be deadly and has no antidote.
particular size. this is referred to as weaponizing it and this is a challenging process. that part isn t easy to do. you can find it because it comes from the castor bean pretty readily but to make it into a situation where you actually breathe it in is not easy. why is it so hard to determine if it is in fact ricin, this letter laced with suspected material going to president obama, going to senator wicker of mississippi? preliminary tests showed it tested positive for ricin. they ve sent it to fort detrick, maryland, the nation s top lab to deal with. what takes so long in making this determination? i think part of this is just being very careful. this is obviously a big deal if in fact it is ricin. that would not be an accident. you wouldn t just accidently get ricin. but i will tell you i looked at the testing for ricin just as we looked at the testing for anthrax years ago. there s pretty good testifies out there. sensitive tests, specific tests. my guess is they re double ch
as the castor bean as a plant, it is a biological material. we generally think of bioattacks as coming from bacteria or fungi like anthrax or small pox. but ricin is easily available in terms of the potential for making it into a dangerous material and weapon but it has not been used extensively by any means. what are the symptoms if exposed to ricin? it s a series first of all, the effects of ricin, the toxin, is effectively a neuro toxin. it begins to shut down your nervous system. something like seran the agent used in the japanese subways in 1995. what happens is you begin to get symptoms, unpleasant for sure. dizziness, nausea, tightness. you re seeing it on the screen. fatigue, and actually after a