Ricin
Thread -
On Tue, 18 Feb 2003 22:30,
Donald Lang wrote:
How deadly is this ricin?
How much skill is required to produce some out of the nearest well
equipped back yard?
How many castor oil plants are required to produce enough to expedite
an inheritance?
Zero Sum replied:
The
only actual manufacturing instructions I could find were in French, but repeatedly
quoted is the "seven seeds to kill a child".
Podargus added:
I use a bit of castor oil in our business. In the past all Australia's
supply came from USA where I believe the mills had to be licensed because
of the ricin. These are specialist mills because it is almost impossible
to clean the machinery well enough to put say, soya beans through.
My last drum is out of India, which I suppose raises the question of how
easily large amounts of raw material could easily be available. I suppose
it is grown elsewhere in the world. Meaning, would you need a minimum
quantity to be able to extract the ricin?
My understanding is that castor oil has been largely replaced in things like
brake fluid and paint.
Peter
Macinnis responded:
Very easily.
The tree alongside my place of work has shed enough seeds to kill all on
this list. There are plenty of others around Brookvale. It is
a common weed!
{Toby Fiander responded:
Ah Ha!!
The Evil Plan is finally revealed.... all we have to do is figure out who
you are working for.
Is this part of the oil for encyclopedias (sic) scam? Have you been
working alone or are you part of a cell affiliated with the Basket Brigade
of Brookvale or the Bookbinders of Beverly Hills?
I suppose you were planning to use poisoned electrons....}
Zero Sum wrote:
While ricin is dangerous, I don't see it as a weapon of mass destruction.
Too hard to administer to a large population. That is the case for
most poisons.
What bothers me is if someone from Al Quaida (or elsewhere) with a bit of
biological nous gets themselves a sample of Ebola and releases that in a
first world country. With about a dozen labs in the world that can
detect it, it would spread far and fast and since for any survival intensive
nursing is needed, you would be looking at a near total loss of population.
If Al Quaida wants this country (which it foes), that is what I would be
worried about.
Ray
commented:
Mutually Assured Destruction is usually an effective limitation to use of
WOMD.
No point winning a war by being food for microfungi doing so, and things
like Ebola have no cure except full quarantine and isolation.
Peter Macinnis responded:
Curiously, Ebola is its own worst enemy -- it is unlikely to kill the whole
of the population, as isolation begins when it kills all within its reach
-- that is why Ebola has never spread from Africa (the one or two alleged
cases have not, so far as I know, been confirmed as Ebola, though they WERE
Ebola-like). It spreads so far, and dies out. A version of Ebola
that was slower to erupt, with a longer incubation period -- that would be
the real worry.
If Ebola broke out, it would be necessary to immobilise the population, burn
the dead and do minimum maintenance on the living, to stay apart as long
as possible. The main source of infection comes from blood sprays from the
living and funerary treatment -- the case Laurie Garrett described to me
some years ago was mainly caused by the local methods of preparing corpses
for burial.
Luckily, terrorists who feed off fear are generally so stupid they think
they can build nukes with U238 and kill millions with cyanide hand grenades.
Even more luckily, they do not understand the methods of delivery that are
required to get their pet projects running. Sadly, those who call themselves
the good guys who feed off fear (the Fridge Magnet Gang) have no idea of
the delivery problems either -- or want to make sure that the public have
no idea.
There is more terror in a tanker of petrol than there is in a tanker of ricin.
All we have to fear is fear itself.
David
Allen wrote:
May be
of interest - Rather yankeecentric but that is hardly unusual.
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/db2www/plantfaq_display.d2w/report1
Look particularly
around 228+ though (I find) much of interest.
Zero Sum replied:
One molecule, one cell... Shudder. That leads me to a really
frightning though. There was a substance they developed (a decade or
so ago?) that could be used to 'transport' chemicals into an through the
body. I remember reading when something with a strong taste was added
to it, and you touched it with a finger, you could taste the taste in a few
seconds.
If you could mix ricin with that, then you would have an incredibly toxic
powder. One touch and you are dead.
Podargus
wrote:
Hmm.
What I was trying to ask, is it practical, or even possible to 'extract'
the ricin in small batches in other than sophisticated labs?
David Allen added:
See
http://www.global-garden.com.au/gardenlandscape.htm
Nine of the listed species, including the first six, are in my yard plus
others not mentioned. Strychnos axillaris for instance, our native Strychnine
Bush, which is of the same genus as the plant from which curare is obtained.
Seeds & cuttings of all are available from time to time:-)
Here is the link to Jiri Patocka's paper on Abrin and ricin which I posted
several weeks ago.
http://www.asanltr.com/newsletter/01-4/articles/Abrin&RicinRev.htm
And the home page of Applied Science and Analysis, ASA Inc., an international
organization which was established in 1983 to specialize in nuclear, biological
and chemical (NBC) defense and protection issues
worldwide.
http://www.asanltr.com/
Zero
Sum posted:
Answers
garnered from sundry web pages.
> How
deadly is this ricin?
> How
easy is it to detect in a living or recently dead person?
Ricin
is a potent protein toxin derived from the castor bean plant. Because the
plant is commonly available and the toxin is fairly easy to make, it is potentially
a widely available toxin and can be produced in large quantities. It was
developed by the United States and Britain in World War II, but never used.
Although
ricin can be administered in a number of ways, it is most likely that inhalation,
which causes necrosis of the airways, is the major threat. It can, however,
be spread by injection and through the skin. Naturally occurring cases of
ricin involve ingestion of castor beans, and are marked by severe gastrointestinal
symptoms, vascular collapse, and death. No specific vaccine or antitoxin
exists. A protective mask would offer protection from aerosol exposure.
Evidence
of Use by Terrorist Organizations
There
is no evidence that ricin has been used by terrorist organizations thus far.
However:
The Times
of London found papers in a gated al Qaeda house in Kabul, Afghanistan, that
describe the development and use of ricin. "The Times found ampoules, syringes
and pills scattered by looters across the ground floor, but the instructions
for making ricin were concealed amid a mass of scattered documents listing
formulae for manufacturing explosives, fuses and detonation circuits. The
instructions make chilling reading. 'A certain amount, equal to a strong
dose, will be able to kill an adult, and a dose equal to seven seeds will
kill a child,' one page reads. Another page says: 'Gloves and face mask are
essential for the preparation of ricin. Period of death varies from 3-5 days
minimum, 4-14 days maximum.'"
The Hindu
wrote of the story, "What caught the eye of The Times' reporter, Mr. Anthony
Loyd, was a 'single English word. .... Ricin.'"
The New York Post has reported that "Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said small traces of anthrax and another deadly substance,
ricin, have been detected during inspections of at least 60 sites throughout
Afghanistan. But he said the traces are so small, it's impossible to say
whether al Qaeda has the capability to use the deadly substances in weapons."
How Ricin
Can Be Used
Ricin can be disseminated as an aerosol, by injection, or as a food and water
contaminant.
To be absorbed dermally, ricin must be enhanced with a strong solvent such
as was prepared by four Minnesotans in 1992. It can be produced as an aerosol,
liquid, or powder.
The most likely scenarios in which ricin intoxication might be seen are a
small-scale battlefield or terrorist delivery of an aerosol and, the injection
or dermal exposure to an individual as an assassin's tool.
Lethality
Aerosol Exposure: The estimated lethal dose to kill 50 percent of exposed
population, or LD 50, for aerosol exposure is a concentration of 3 mcg/kg.
Aerosol exposure causes weakness, fever, cough, and pulmonary oedema within
18 to 24 hours and severe respiratory distress and death within 36 to 72
hours.
Gastrointestinal Exposure: The LD50 for GI exposures is 30 mcg/kg. Castor
bean ingestions have been reported to be fatal, but there are many case reports
that prove otherwise. Many cases are related to ingestions of seeds and ingestion
of ricin without death. If swallowed, ricin can cause severe gastroenteritis,
haemorrhage, and various forms of necrosis. Death may occur after circulatory
collapse.
Injection: Ricin, if injected, can cause severe local necrosis of muscle
and regional lymph nodes with organ involvement and death. In the case of
Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian defector who was stabbed with a rigged umbrella
tip, a tiny amount was required.
Perhaps just one milligram of ricin can kill an adult, while .7 grams can
kill 129 adults. Children are more sensitive than adults to fluid loss due
to vomiting and diarrhoea, and can quickly become severely dehydrated and
die.
History
and Examples of Use
Ricin was cultivated in ancient Egypt as a laxative and was used during World
War I and World War II as lubricating oil for aircraft. The U.S. government
subsidized castor bean cultivation in California until the 1960s. It was
discovered in the late 1800s by Stillmark and was fundamental for Paul Ehrlich's
development of the discipline of immunology. Additionally it was shown to
inhibit tumour growth in 1951.
During World War II it was code named Compound W and was considered for weaponization
by the United States and Britain. The weapon was tested but never used.
In 1978 ricin was used to assassinate Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov.
While waiting for a bus in London, Markov was bumped by a man with an umbrella
and he felt a sharp pain. After his death three days later, a pellet the
size of a pinhead was found in his right thigh, containing two small holes
to deliver the ricin. Ten days earlier, the same type of assassination had
been tried on a man named Vladimir Kostov, but his heavy sweater prevented
the pellet from going farther than his subcutaneous tissue.
In 1991 four members of the Minnesota Patriots Council, a right-wing anti-tax
group, attempted to deliver ricin through the skin to an Internal Revenue
Service official, a U.S. deputy marshal, and local law enforcement. They
mixed ricin with chemicals and aloe vera and planned to smear the mix on
doorknobs and steering wheels. They were caught by the FBI and convicted
under the 1989 Biological Weapons and Anti-terrorism Act. The .7 grams of
ricin produced by these men would have been enough to kill more than 100
people.
In 1999, James Kenneth Gluck attempted to poison two Colorado judges.
In June 2002, the FBI arrested Kenneth Olsen for allegedly attempting to
make ricin and poison his wife. His trial is still pending.
> Have
I overestimated the vindictive quality of some of the family feuds
> waged
by my more serious-minded kinfolk?
Dunno.
--
Peter Macinnis replied:
> Ricin is a potent
protein toxin derived from the castor bean plant. Because
> the plant is commonly available and the toxin is fairly easy to make,
it
> is potentially a widely available toxin and can be produced in large
> quantities. It was developed by the United States and Britain in World
War
> II, but never used.
That stockpiling is news to me -- source please? Ricin (rhymes with
missin') is from Ricinus communis, a common weed, growing beside the building
I am working in now. It is water soluble, found in the embryo, and the lethal
dose has been as low as 3 "seeds", though 8 is usually cited (my source is
a 19th century poions handbook for doctors). There is enough ricin
available beside our building to kill hundreds -- just lying there on the
ground. When it rains, it will enter the drains. The cake left after
pressing seeds for castor oil is ricin-rich.
Each molecule kills one cell, by a really neat mechanism that I will try
to post tonight -- details are at home, I think.
>Each molecule kills one cell, by a really neat mechanism that
I will
>try to post tonight -- details are at home, I think.
Found it!
Ricin is a small protein made up of a short A chain and a longer B chain,
linked by disulfide bridges. The B chain attaches to the outside of
a mammalian cell by binding to the galactose part of a glycoprotein. Then
the cell membrane invaginates, taking the ricin inside, where the A and B
chain separate inside the vacuole. The B chain then makes a channel through
the vacuole membrane, letting the A chain enter the cytoplasm, where it gets
to the ribosomes and blocks protein synthesis. One molecule kills one cell.
Interesting that ricin is only in the embryo -- suggesting a possible past
or maybe present dispersal mechanism.
Taylor's Medical Rurisprudence, lent to me by a delightful list member, says
that the seeds' taste is said to resemble that of an almond. I have
nothing as yet on the taste of ricin itself.
> death. No specific
vaccine or antitoxin exists. A protective mask would
> offer protection from aerosol exposure.
No, there has been at least one recent claim of an antitoxin -- I will need
to find the press release.
and in response to a further post
by Zero
Sum:
> > That stockpiling
is news to me -- source please?
>
The reason that I did not provide an attribution is that a search for
> "preparation
of ricin" produced about fifty hits, of which forty-five
> quoted
the same material I posted. Since I couldn't find the original
> source,
I didn't supply an attribution, but if you repeat the search on
> Google
for the term above, you'll get the same fifty hits...
Hmmmm. Sounds like 50,000
plagiarists can't be wrong :-) Ricin was definitely known about, but
I don't think it was seriously considered. There is, however, this piece
that appeared in "Nature" in 1870, (Vol 1, 562, 1870) and again in 1940 (vol
145, 523, 1940) concerning the thoughts of John Tyndall. (Both passages
appear in "The Bedside Nature" at pages 9 and 231, which is how I detected
the doubling up):
"Bacterial warfare
PROF. TYNDALL will have much to answer for in the results that may be expected
from the spread of his "dust and disease" theory. It is stated by the _Athenaeum_
that a new idea has been broached in a recent lecture by Mr. Bloxam, the
lecturer on chemistry to the department of artillery studies. He suggests
that the committee on
explosives, abandoning gun cotton, should collect the germs of small-pox
and similar malignant diseases, in cotton or other dust-collecting substances,
and load shells with them. We should then hear of an enemy dislodged from
his position by a volley of typhus, or a few rounds of Asiatic cholera. We
shall expect to receive the particulars of a new "Sale of Poisons" Act, imposing
the strictest regulations on the sale by chemists of packets of "cholera
germs" or "small-pox seed". Probably none will be allowed to be sold without
bearing the stamp of the Royal Institution, certifying that they have been
examined by the microscope and are warranted to be the genuine article."
There is no comment in the book on the repetition after 70 years -- I suspect
that it was an attempt to get the Germans confused and searching for something
or other. The Germans had three nerve agents that were well ahead of
anything the Allies had -- and never used them, perhaps because Hitler and
most of his senior staff had been through gas in World War I, and feared
that the Allies had something even better. The Allies were, of course,
messing around with anthrax, but equally held back from using it. During
the war, P M S Blackett,
among others, gave radio talks that implied all the physicists were busy
studying cosmic rays, and finding that the rays could be used, deep underground,
to plot the location of railway tunnels above -- clearly they were doddering
around and had no time to build atom bombs or any of that stuff.
Tyndall had gone from thoughts of dust in the air and the Tyndall effect
to realising there would be germs in the air, and so he swung over to full
support of Pasteur's germ theory -- I have just finished reading the "second
report of the Royal Commission into Cattle Plague, 1866" (the plague was
rinderpest). It is fascinating to see people on the cusp of the germ
theory, using terms like "germ or seed" and virus, meaning poison, and looking
at disinfection. One of the commission people was William Crookes,
discoverer of thallium, one of the commissioners was Lyon Playfair, roundly
criticised for proposing that cyanide shells be used against the Russians
in the Crimea.
Not that it mattered -- the French lobbed 4000 tons of cyanide at the Germans
in World war I, with no apparent casualties -- effective poisoning needs
proper delivery, and overnight, we have seen how much easier it is to kill
with flammable liquids (Korea) or mace spray (Chicago), given the right conditions.
The idiots who say they have plans to poison a city's water supply with cyanide
clearly have no idea of the amounts needed. The politicians who say
we will be poisoned if we don't have the right fridge magnets are equally
intellectually devoid.
