- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
suspicious white powder found in a U.S. Senate office building on Monday
tested positive for the deadly poison ricin, U.S. Capitol Police Chief
Terrence Gainer said.
-
- Several preliminary tests confirmed that the substance
discovered in a mail handling room was ricin and results of more extensive
tests conducted in a laboratory confirmed the earlier findings, Gainer
said late on Monday.
-
- "Two of those three tests do indicate that it is
ricin. So we have had several confirmations that it is ricin," Gainer
said.
-
- Gainer said there would be one further test, but the
results were not expected until early on Tuesday.
-
- About 16 people who were on the floor where the toxin
was discovered were being decontaminated, but no one was hurt, Gainer
said. Gainer said the U.S. Capitol Police department was notified by
a postal worker in the Dirksen office building shortly after 3 p.m. of
a suspicious white powder in a mailroom. He said it was not immediately
clear what package or what letter may have held the powder.
-
- Ricin is a poison derived from the pulp left over when
castor beans are processed to make castor oil. There is no antidote for
ricin, which can kill within 36 to 72 hours of exposure to significant
amounts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
- A vial of ricin was delivered to a postal distribution
center in Greenville, South Carolina on Oct. 15 in an envelope with a
letter threatening to widely release the deadly poison unless new rules
for commercial truck drivers were changed. U.S. authorities in January
offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever
sent the toxin.
-
- In 2001, Capitol Hill was one target in a series of anthrax
attacks that killed at least five people on the East Coast, including
two Washington postal workers.
-
- Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to the
Washington offices of two senators and to news media offices in New York
and Florida.
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- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=KV1TSZ
SWARFTWCRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=4267696
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