Ricin Poses Postal Risk, but Different From Germs

NY Times ^ | February 4, 2004 | ANDREW C. REVKIN

[neverdem]

The postal system, including the branches that serve government offices, remains vulnerable to mailings of ricin and other poisons despite efforts to improve security since the anthrax attacks of 2001, government investigators and other experts said yesterday.

Even so, they said that in contrast to the hazards of infectious agents like anthrax, the risk posed by these other substances was more a matter of disruption than of mortal danger.

Many experts consider the public health risk posed by a mailed poison much smaller than that from a mailed germ, particularly the easily lofted spores of anthrax, which can multiply explosively if only a small number lodge in the lung.

For a poison to be deadly, "you'd need to absorb a lot more in quantity than anthrax, so from that standpoint it's less of a hazard," said a government official involved in continuing assessments of postal security.

"But it certainly can still be lethal," the official said, "so this is a concern."

And it can be extraordinarily disruptive, as was shown Monday and yesterday when all mail to government agencies in Washington was stopped and large parts of Congress's operations were shut down.

The postal system is particularly vulnerable to poisons because its main defenses are all aimed at killing or detecting harmful living organisms, like anthrax, which is a bacterium. Irradiation machines, which sterilize all first-class mail bound for Washington government offices, work by disrupting an organism's DNA. They have no effect on poisons, which are simply molecules that happen to have devastating effects on human physiology.

Moreover, though the Postal Service is installing air sampling systems to test for anthrax spores around sorting machines at 280 regional mail hubs, these systems, to be ready starting in March, will not initially be able to test for poisons or other harmful substances.

Bob Anderson, a spokesman for the service, said efforts were under way to expand the list of agents that the systems can monitor. "The systems are expandable," he said. "We've been working ever since 9/11 with federal law enforcement and health agencies to identify possible agents that might be used in the future."

Still, a government official directly involved in postal security assessments said additional screening was months away, at the least.

The list of agents to be newly screened may end up being a long one, because ricin is only one of many poisons worrying terrorism experts. Others are solanine, which is extracted from potatoes that have remained green as they grow, and nicotine, the tobacco ingredient, which, federal health officials say, can be lethal in a dose of about 40 to 60 milligrams.

Terrorism experts said mailings of such substances were the least of their concerns, however, given the larger threat they pose to targets like the food supply.

"For a terrorist to send a substance like ricin in the mail is such an ineffective way to use it," said Dr. Greg Evans, director of the Center for the Study of Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections at St. Louis University.

"This doesn't sound like a well-planned way to get around the protections that have been put in place," Dr. Evans said of the new episode on Capitol Hill. "It sounds more like some person or group trying to cause panic and turmoil."

That was apparently the motive the last time ricin showed up in the postal system: in October, a small container with labels urging careful handling was discovered at a mail center in Greenville, S.C.

When ricin, nicotine, solanine and other poisons have come up in the context of terrorism, it has almost always been with respect to the food supply. Last fall the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration separately issued statements about rising threats of terrorism through use of poisons, and the warnings from both agencies focused on preventing food or water contamination.

[neverdem]

PING

[Freedom2specul8]

I heard this morning that the ricin was found in the white house last year, but was kept quiet..and that the note left behind at the capital had to do with certain demands..one of which was to change trucking rules. Do you know what trucking rules they want changed? Have you heard whether or not the ricin threats are putting grocers on alert...(thinking about ricin, food tampering and a mad trucker who hauls food)

[Freedom2specul8]

PS: If you've started a ping list related to the ricin threat, would you mind adding me to it? Thanks...

[John H K]

http://fleetowner.com/ar/fleet_reward_ricin_threat/

Here's info about Greenville, SC Ricin letter, the White House letter is reported to be essentially identical by the Washington Post.

The FBI released the following representation of the language contained in the threat letter:

to the department of transportation: I’m a fleet owner of a tanker company.

I have easy access to castor pulp. If my demand is dismissed I’m capable of making Ricin.

My demand is simple, January 4 2004 starts the new hours of service for trucks which include a ridiculous ten hours in the sleeper berth. Keep at eight or I will start dumping.

You have been warned this is the only letter that will be sent by me.

Fallen Angel