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's just a set-up for "nothing to see here, move along"
I doubt they just knew that. Im in the medical field and didnt. I knew about how dangerous a bio-terrorism weapon it could be though through manditory inservices.
It's the new party line. I'm sure you'll get re-education at your next mandatory inservice.
Who fed them this other possible scenerio?
Our 'betters'. Can't let the sheep panic, can we?
Yea, I’m still not breathing as well as I was before I contacted this. Lots of this going around here too, so many sick kids and teachers, the schools here have been closed for a week.
I agree with you MS, I want to know why this ricin was in a motel room, and who the fourth person was who went to retrieve something.
Of course they don’t want to alarm people. I understand that some people just don’t want to know. I’m just not one of them.
Save this post because if it is ricin the story will probably disappear in 18 hours.
I use castor beans a decorative shrubbery around here.
the objective is to not panic the public....because if the public is in panic the people in charge would have to do something to protect the Citizens....the objective is to leave the Citizens exposed.....it is obvious what is taking place...watch and wait... is all that is being done.....the politicians have sold out....the enemy is preparing to attack...I am no safer than any other Citizen...but I too am being forced to watch and wait....while the enemy hurries toward their next attack upon our Nation.... America is another day closer to losing Citizens.
I don’t think so.They had bomb sniffing dogs, extreme security measures.
Lots of military special ops people attend this. I wouldn’t want to be the bad guy who was caught there trying something fishy.
“It would have been a REALLY bad time for a terrorist to pull something LOL”
Maybe a terrorist cell just wanted to brouse and buy....
I am of the belief that Islamic radicals have infiltrated every branch of our government and with our FBI busy attending Muslim sensitivity classes, I doubt they will have time to pursue this../sarc
Maybe I’m just too cynical for my height, but it almost seems as though you can tell how serious an incident is by how ludicrous the “official” explanation is. The less sense they make, the more desperate they are to cover up the seriousness of what’s going on.
“Finding and disposing of the toxin is not particularly hazardous if one wears gloves and does not aerosolize the material”
I guess that will be the big question in this story...WAS IT AEROSOLIZED?
How long will it take the officials to find out?
The people who run the schools know the intelligence level of the American public. *sigh*
Damm. Too long for a tagline...
Hot Air has the story up:
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/02/29/breaking-100-ricin-found-in-vegas-hotel/
Some CDC guy on FoxNews basically said the same thing, about 5 minutes ago.
Same thing I’ve always heard.
One bean can be very dangerous to child or animals, iirc.
Extraction of ricin is simple. Weaponizing it for aerosol use is quite complex and most jackass mass murderers would not have the capability or equipment required. Then again, the anthrax released back on 2001 was weaponized by somebody with requisite knowledge and equipment. If this stuff is weaponized, then we must think Islamofascists are present and accounted for. The big question—will Hussein Obama get the blame?
“Our government has done a good job keeping us safe. I dont have a problem with that. I just dont like their insulting our intelligence. Regardless of how good a job they do it is only going to take one bad guy to get thru. People need to know how to calmly take care of themselves. We dont see mass panic in Israel and places under frequent attack. The people have been trained to take precautions.”
Truly, the Bush administration has stepped to the plate and done some right by preventing further domestic attacks. For the record, the number of trained emergency personnel has skyrocketed in the last 5 years. You would be very surprised at the large number of training sessions that have occurred and are still going on.
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