Posted on 02/29/2008 3:14:39 AM PST by maquiladora
LAS VEGAS (AP) Preliminary tests indicate that a package found at a motel contained the toxin ricin, and seven people have been taken to hospitals, authorities said.
Police were called to the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday and retrieved a package from the motel manager that was determined to be a chemical or controlled substance, Officer Ramone Denby said.
Two preliminary tests indicate it contained ricin, he said. Results from further tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a second local lab are expected Friday, police said.
Homeland Security officials joined local police in the investigation. Officials from the FBI, Las Vegas Health District, a hazardous materials team and the National Guard were also at the scene.
Officers cordoned off the area and isolated the room where the substance was found.
Three motel employees and another person were quarantined and decontaminated at the site, then taken to hospitals for further testing, Denby said. All appeared to be in good condition, he said. Three police officers who had been exposed were also taken to hospitals.
It takes between six and eight hours for someone exposed to ricin to show signs of contamination, Denby said.
A woman who answered the phone at the motel declined comment.
Ricin is made from the waste left over from processing castor beans, and can be extremely lethal. As little as 500 micrograms, or about the size of the head of a pin, can kill a human, according to the CDC.
That would be normal.
Haz mat teams in a lot of areas have military specialists back up their tests.
Since there just happens to be a WMD team available nearby, they certainly could have (and apparently did) contact them.
Not sure why they didn’t MENTION it but might have something to do with the “if we didn’t have these funds coming in we couldn’t have protected people” comment. LOL
there’s another possibility too... The Russians are BACK... :)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/weekinreview/26lyall.html
These days, political poisonings seem bizarre throwbacks, plucked from the pages of lurid spy thrillers or from movies like Notorious. In that 1946 Hitchcock film, Ingrid Bergman, playing a spy infiltrating a group of former Nazis who are regrouping in Brazil after World War II, is slowly poisoned by her husband, played by Claude Rains. (Uranium ore secreted in wine bottles and meant to be used for bombs is a key element of the plot, but even Hollywood did not suggest that it might double as the poison itself.)
But there were real poisonings in the postwar era, too; the last well-known one in London took place in 1978, administered by a variation of the classic poisoned dart.
In that case, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was jabbed sharply in the thigh by a strangers umbrella as he waited for a bus on Waterloo Bridge. He died three days later, and a postmortem exam found a pellet with the deadly poison ricin in his leg.
“I use castor beans a decorative shrubbery around here.”
Amazing how little people know. Ricin comes from castor beans and they are all over the SE. My farm is full of them. It is by far the most common weed.
Not sure I understand the comment about government bases. I don’t think we’ve stored significant amounts of ricin in years. It’s not very effective on the battlefield.
Whew. I was a bit worried that you were suggesting a conspiracy theory. ;) Sorry about that.
Hey, caught this little piece of news on this... Second paragraph, a news group that actually has paid attention in the world lately. Here’s the link: http://www.enews20.com/news_Ricin_Found_in_Las_Vegas_Hotel_06209.html
A lethal substance was discovered in a hotel room in Las Vegas, media resources reported on Friday.
Probably to avoid the disturbance it would have caused, authorities said they believed the case was not terrorist-related.
The poisonous substance discovered at the Extended Stay America Hotel on Thursday was ricin. After spotting the suspicious substance inside one of the hotels rooms, the staff called the local police to investigate.
Police preliminary tests showed the substance was ricin, which has an average lethal dose in humans of 0.2 milligrams (1/5,000th of a gram). Further tests are under way and the results will be released later in the day.
“This event does not appear to be terrorism related,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement.
The investigation of this case is a joint operation of the Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Las Vegas police.
The people who initially found and investigated the suspicious substance three police officers, three hotel employees and another person were taken to the local hospital for tests. Fortunately, they are in good condition, hospital authorities said.
Several similar cases occurred in the past couple of years. For example, an envelope containing ricin was sent to the White House in 2003, but didnt make it pass the security services. The deadly substance was also detected in an envelope at a South Carolina postal facility and in 2004 in a Senate mailroom.
The protein ricin is a toxin extracted from the castor bean (ricinus communis) and although highly lethal, in proper doses, can be used in treating cancer.
I meant to thank you earlier. Thanks.
According to what I heard at the news conference, there was no “unconscious body” at all—”the man” (as yet unnamed) had called for an ambulance some days earlier because of resperatory problems. So the NYT bombs out again.
You welcome. I confess that I did sleep better when I thought our betters actually were better...
Hard to do when the thread’s been hijacked by the Bickersons.
I think it has something to do with dumbasses...
I don’t think any of this is ‘normal’...LOL
The dogs in the room are still bothering me. This friend that came to gather up his coma friend’s belongings and ‘found’ the vials didn’t know the guy had ‘pets’ in the room before this morning?
Doesn’t sound like they were pets at all... sounds like they were test subjects!
Why isn’t the press asking questions of around the hotel, etc. to get to the truth?
The Bickersons? That makes me feel dated...
As odd as this is going to sound, I don’t remember if that was me. (I don’t think it was. Was it???)
Careful using that word regarding Rick.
Yesterday I called him that. He went whining to the mods and had the post deleted.
Now while it’s OK for him to call me that.
And use profanity.
And threaten to kick my ass....
I’ll tolerate it. I’m bigger than he is.
Don’t remember the poster’s name, it was in 2001, right before 9/11.
That’s why I pinged all, hoping someone would remember.
Mayor of Las Vegas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Goodman
Maybe this is why we are not hearing anything. He is a big dem who use to represent major organized crime bosses before he was elected Mayor of Las Vegas.
THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN!!
*bland look of total innocence*
Were did I actually call anyone a dumbass?...
From Wiki:
“Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas
In July 2006 the mayor criticized the Ubisoft game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas for its premise of terrorism in Las Vegas, because he thought it may tarnish the city’s image. He stated, “It’s based on a false premise...It could be harmful economically, and it may be something that’s not entitled to free speech (protection)... I will ask... whether or not we can stop it.”[3] Publication of the game has not been hindered.”
go figure....
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