Ricin sparks bio-terror alert
2004-02-03 22:40
Washington - Authorities closed three United States senate office buildings on Tuesday after toxic ricin powder was found in what a congressional leader called a terrorist attack.
The powder was found in the mailroom of the senate majority leader, Bill Frist and most of the eight tests carried out had shown it was ricin, according to police chief Terrance Gainer.
"Somebody, in all likelihood, manufactured this with an intent to harm, and this is a criminal investigation," Frist told the senate.
Sixteen people who were in the building were being decontaminated, but none were believed to be harmed by the powder, officials said.
The results of a definitive test were to be released later on Tuesday.
Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the senate, said: "I believe that it is an act of terrorism. The question is, who is responsible?
"How widespread is this act? And to what extent will be the repercussions, the implications of another act such as this?"
Congress was the target of anthrax mail attacks in 2001. Letters laced with the deadly bacteria were sent to the offices of Daschle and fellow Democrat Patrick Leahy shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Other letters containing anthrax were received by US news organisations, and anthrax was also detected at a Washington post office.
Five of the 22 people who got sick died. No arrests have ever been made.
Ricin scares in Europe
Ricin is a toxin which occurs naturally in castor beans and is 6 000 times more powerful than cyanide.
Experts say a speck no bigger than a grain of salt is enough to kill an adult. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, fever, muscle aches and organ failure.
US police said it was not clear where the ricin had come from, although it was found in the Dirksen senate office building, where mail is handled.
There were several ricin scares in Europe last year.
Five Algerian men were charged in Britain with conspiring to develop or produce a chemical weapon, after a ricin find in a London flat in January 2003.