Ricin Aubrey Van Niekerk John Stenson Sabrina Wolfe
Feb 24, 2016
RicinAubrey Van Niekerk
John StensonSabrina Wolfe
Manufacture
0Made from the pulp of the castor bean
0Crushing the pulp creates oil and this oil is purified into pure ricin toxin
Toxicity
0Highly toxic0Works by inhibiting the
body’s ability to produce proteins, which can cause organ failure
Methods of Administration
0 Injected via needle0 Injected via pellet 0Added to water0Misted
Detection
0Mass spectrometry on the blood is performed to identify the poison
Symptoms
0 Symptoms usually appear 6-8 hours after administration, death follows within 48-76 hours
0 If inhaled: Respiratory distress/failure, cold symptoms, Pulmonary Edema, Low BP
0 If ingested: GI distress, diarrhea, vomiting, hallucinations, seizures, organ failure
0 Injection: massive organ failure, fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of conciousness
Cure
0No known antidote0Can identified but not
treated0Can only make the
victim comfortable
Wood Green Ricin Plot
0 London UK0 Use of ricin threatened0 Believed links to Al-Qaeda0 Metropolitan Police
arrested 6 suspects in Jan. 5, 2003
0 No ricin found but public panic
0 Only one conviction- Kamel Bourgass
Umbrella Murder
0 Bulgaria 19780 Georgi Markov0 At bus stop stranger bumped
into him with umbrella0 Died three days later0 Ricin was COD0 Identified that the umbrella
had injected a small metal pellet filled with ricin into his calf
0 Murderer was Francesco Gullino codenamed “Piccadilly
Sources
0http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/facts.asp0http://
emedicine.medscape.com/article/830795-overview0http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ricin/index.html