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Biotech / Medical : Bioterrorism -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Lee who wrote (735)	10/23/2003 12:29:43 PM
From: tuck	Respond to of 891

>>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. postal workers have found an envelope containing the deadly toxin ricin at a postal facility in South Carolina but officials said on Wednesday there was no sign terrorism was involved. A U.S. law enforcement official in Washington said the letter, found late last week at the postal facility in Greenville, South Carolina, contained a sealed container which had a small amount of a substance that tested positive for ricin. "So far there is no discernible public health impact," the official said, adding that officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were working with the U.S. Postal Service to assess and inspect the entire facility. Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the letter was not linked to terrorism. "Based upon the evidence we have seen so far this is most likely not related to terrorism but related to threats criminal in nature," Roehrkasse said. Ricin, one of the deadliest naturally occurring poisons, is derived from castor plant beans, which are grown worldwide to produce castor oil. The chemical, which is many times more deadly than cyanide, is considered a likely bio-warfare agent and is on the CDC's "B" list of agents -- considered a moderate threat. Officials said postal workers in Greenville did not appear to have been affected by the ricin. Postal workers have been victims of toxic mailings in the past. Two postal workers were among the five people killed in a wave of anthrax mailings in 2001 that also sickened about a dozen other people.<< Cheers, Tuck