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To: mindspy; All

A powder found in a Senate office building mailroom has been identified as the deadly toxin ricin, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said today. Frist also said no one has reported any ill effects from the substance.

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5,658 posted on 02/03/2004 2:32:58 PM PST by JustPiper (D A M N I T O L Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 full hours)
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To: JustPiper; StillProud2BeFree
****Under existing procedures, the FBI would be the lead investigative agency in the case****

Seems like no Northcom

(snip)

One federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that no extortion or threat letter was found in the area. Most of the mail in that part of the office came from Frist's home state of Tennessee, the official said.

Frist said several tests have confirmed the substance was ricin but more sophisticated tests were being done nonetheless. Gainer said all of the mail in Frist's office had been isolated or collected by authorities.

Teams will be sent into all of the Senate buildings in coming days to collect all other unopened mail in offices, Gainer said. The FBI and other agencies also will check out the route a piece of mail would take to reach Frist's office.

Under existing procedures, the FBI would be the lead investigative agency in the case, with input from a wide range of others including postal inspectors, Homeland Security Department and Capitol police.

If the substance did arrive via the mail, it would have been irradiated at a facility in New Jersey before it was opened under procedures adopted following the 2001 anthrax attacks on two Senate offices. But since ricin is not a biological agent, it would not be affected by irradiation, officials said.

(snip)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110339,00.html
5,664 posted on 02/03/2004 2:38:28 PM PST by Calpernia (http://members.cox.net/classicweb/Heroes/heroes.htm)
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