Raising Suspicion about Ricin

On Monday 6 January 2003 British police arrested six Algerians in the Greenwood district of London. After months of investigation, the Anti-terrorism Division had sufficient evidence of suspicious activities at the Greensood site. Since the initial arrests, a seventh person (also Algerian) has been detained, and the investigation continues.

What were these Algerians doing? They were conducting experiments to create potential elements of bioterrorism. They were not isolating or intensifying strains of Smallpox. They were not mailing packages of white powdery Anthrax spores. They were making Ricin from caster oil, and Ricin makes Smallpox and Anthrax seem like a bad case of the common cold by comparison.

Ricin, you wonder. If Ricin is so deadly and is apparently so easy to make, why is everybody so worried about Smallpox and Anthrax? As a matter of logical conclusions, Ricin should be near the top of the weapons of bioterrorism short list. In some sense perhaps it is; Ricin's characteristics should make it the terrorist's friend and bio-weapon of choice. Consider these elements, and Ricin's lack of publicity will make perfect sense.

Ricin is 6000 times more powerful and lethal than Arsenic; 0.015 milligrams of Ricin (approximately the size of half a grain of salt) will kill its recipient. In other words, Ricin is very, very powerful stuff.

Ricin can be dispersed by inhallation, injestion, or injection. Injected Ricin is the quickest to cause fatality. When injected, victims usually experience high fever and swelling within a few hours, but by then the patient usually cannot be saved. Death often occurs within twenty-four hours of a Ricin injection. Injested Ricin causes death by rapidly destroying the stomach and liver. Ricin usually causes death within sixty hours after injestion. WHen inhaled, Ricin attacks the lungs, constricts the flow of blood, and induces heart failure. Death usually occurs within seventy-two hours after the Ricin is inhaled.

Ricin is derived from caster oil and has no naturally occurring immunilogical response from humans. Unlike Smallpox and Anthrax, no vaccine or accepted medical treatments exist for victims of a Ricin attack. The conditions Ricin poisoning induces are not contageous or infectuous, but dispersing Ricin through a ventilation system or through a food or water supply could cause a lot of panic and could potentially be fatal to a large number of people.

Ricin has a history as a way to terminate political opponents of various regimes. The most famous example of this was the murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgii Markhov in London. With the aid of KGB scientists, the Bulgarian intelligence service developed a Ricin pellet that they inserted into an umbrella tip. A Bulgarian touched Mr. Markhov with the umbrella tip while Mr. Markhov prepared to board a bus. Mr. Markhov was dead by the next day. The official cause of death was homicide, but the Ricin could not be traced, so no one was ever formally charged with the crime.

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