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Spokane Valley Man Arrested For Allegedly Making Biological Weapon
By KOMO Staff & News Services ^ | June 19th 2002

Posted on 06/19/2002 1:10:32 PM PDT by Aric2000

SPOKANE - Federal agents arrested a Spokane Valley man Wednesday for investigation of manufacturing a biological weapon in his home.

Kenneth R. Olsen, 47, was making ricin, a deadly poison made from the beans of the castor plant, FBI agent Norm Brown said.

While traces of ricin have been found by U.S. troops in Afghanistan at suspected al-Qaida biological weapons sites, there is no sign that this case is connected with terrorists, Brown said.

"We have no knowledge he had any connections with outside or national organizations," Brown said.

Brown did not say if any ricin was found in the home or why agents believed Olsen would be making the chemical.

Neighbors were not considered in danger, Brown said, as agents searched the home in the suburban valley. Olsen's wife and three children were removed from the home after his arrest, Brown said.

Neighbor Dave Rausch said the family appeared normal, although they are private.

"They aren't out much," said Rausch, who lives across the street in the comfortable middle class neighborhood.

"Certainly it's scary," he said. "You wouldn't think something like this would take place in a neighborhood like this."

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office began investigating Olsen last August, before the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, Brown said. The FBI later entered the case.

There was no sign of a bomb in the house and agents do not know what Olsen intended to do with the chemical, Brown said.

"In our opinion the public has nothing to fear from this incident," Brown said.

Agents were also searching Olsen's vehicle and workplace on Wednesday, Brown said.

Ricin is an untraceable poison that is twice as deadly as cobra venom.

Castor beans are grown all over the world and the toxin is relatively easy to produce. It can be used to poison water or food, sprayed into the air or injected into a person. Ricin can kill within three days of exposure.

In very small doses, it causes the human digestive tract to convulse - hence the laxative effect of castor oil. But in larger doses ricin causes diarrhea so severe that victims can die of shock, as a result of massive fluid and electrolyte loss.

Originally manufactured in Russia, ricin was used by British scientists during World War II to develop a special type of bomb, but it was never used in battle.

During the 1990s, U.N. weapons inspectors found ricin in Iraq, where it was being developed as part of Saddam Hussein's arsenal of weapons.

During the 1998 trial of Thomas Leahy in Janesville, Wis., accused of manufacturing ricin, prosecutors said two-thirds of a gram of the poison could have killed 125 people if inhaled.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Washington
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To: Henrietta
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/p lants/dogs/pics/castor3.gif
21 posted on 06/19/2002 2:45:00 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: Aric2000
Well, ain't this fun? It gets better:

Virtual Naval Hospital

USAMRIID&#8217s Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook

Ricin

U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed


SUMMARY

Signs and Symptoms: Acute onset of fever, chest tightness, cough, dyspnea, nausea, and arthralgias occurs 4 to 8 hours after inhalational exposure. Airway necrosis and pulmonary capillary leak resulting in pulmonary edema would likely occur within 18-24 hours, followed by severe respiratory distress and death from hypoxemia in 36-72 hours.

Diagnosis: Acute lung injury in large numbers of geographically clustered patients suggests exposure to aerosolized ricin. The rapid time course to severe symptoms and death would be unusual for infectious agents. Serum and respiratory secretions should be submitted for antigen detection (ELISA). Acute and convalescent sera provide retrospective diagnosis. Nonspecific laboratory and radiographic findings include leukocytosis and bilateral interstitial infiltrates.

Treatment: Management is supportive and should include treatment for pulmonary edema. Gastric lavage and cathartics are indicated for ingestion, but charcoal is of little value for large molecules such as ricin.

Prophylaxis: There is currently no vaccine or prophylactic antitoxin available for human use, although immunization appears promising in animal models. Use of the protective mask is currently the best protection against inhalation.

Isolation and Decontamination: Standard Precautions for healthcare workers. Ricin is non-volatile, and secondary aerosols are not expected to be a danger to health care providers. Decontaminate with soap and water. Hypochlorite solutions (0.1% sodium hypochlorite) can inactivate ricin.

OVERVIEW

Ricin is a potent protein cytotoxin derived from the beans of the castor plant (Ricinus communis). Castor beans are ubiquitous worldwide, and the toxin is fairly easy to extract; Therefore, ricin is potentially widely available. When inhaled as a small particle aerosol, this toxin may produce pathologic changes within 8 hours and severe respiratory symptoms followed by acute hypoxic respiratory failure in 36-72 hours. When ingested, ricin causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms followed by vascular collapse and death. This toxin may also cause disseminated intravascular coagulation, microcirculatory failure and multiple organ failure if given intravenously in laboratory animals.

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Ricin’s significance as a potential biological warfare toxin relates in part to its wide availability. Worldwide, one million tons of castor beans are processed annually in the production of castor oil; the waste mash from this process is 5% ricin by weight. The toxin is also quite stable and extremely toxic by several routes of exposure, including the respiratory route. Ricin was apparently used in the assassination of Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov in London in 1978. Markov was attacked with a specially engineered weapon disguised as an umbrella, which implanted a ricin-containing pellet into his body. This technique was used in at least six other assassination attempts in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In 1994 and 1995, four men from a tax-protest group known as the “Minnesota Patriots Council,” were convicted of possessing ricin and conspiring to use it (by mixing it with the solvent DMSO) to murder law enforcement officials. In 1995, a Kansas City oncologist, Deborah Green, attempted to murder her husband by contaminating his food with ricin. In 1997, a Wisconsin resident, Thomas Leahy, was arrested and charged with possession with intent to use ricin as a weapon. Ricin has a high terrorist potential due to its ready availability, relative ease of extraction, and notoriety in the press.

TOXIN CHARACTERISTICS

Ricin is actually made up of two hemagglutinins and two toxins. The toxins, RCL III and RCL IV, are dimers with molecular weights of about 66,000 daltons. The toxins are made up of two polypeptide chains, an A chain and a B chain, which are joined by a disulfide bond. Ricin can be produced relatively easily and inexpensively in large quantities in a fairly low technology setting. Ricin can be prepared in liquid or crystalline form, or it can be lyophilized to make a dry powder. It could be disseminated as an aerosol, injected into a target, or used to contaminate food or water on a small scale. Ricin is stable under ambient conditions, but is detoxified by heat (80°C for 10 min., or 50°C for about an hour at pH 7.8) and chlorine (>99.4% inactivation by 100 mg/L FAC in 20 min.). Low chlorine concentrations, such as 10 mg/L FAC, as well as iodine at up to 16 mg/L, have no effect on ricin. Ricin’s toxicity is marginal when comparing its LD50 to other toxins, such as botulinum and SEB (incapacitating dose). An enemy would need to produce it in large quantities to cover a significant area on the battlefield, thus potentially limiting large-scale use of ricin by an adversary.

MECHANISM OF TOXICITY

Ricin is very toxic to cells. It acts by inhibiting protein synthesis. The B chain binds to cell surface receptors and the toxin-receptor complex is taken into the cell; the A chain has endonuclease activity and extremely low concentrations will inhibit DNA replication and protein synthesis. In rodents, the histopathology of aerosol exposure is characterized by necrosis of upper and lower respiratory epithelium, causing tracheitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and interstitial pneumonia with perivascular and alveolar edema. There is a latent period of 8 hours post-inhalation exposure before histologic lesions are observed in animal models. In rodents, ricin is more toxic by the aerosol route than by other routes of exposure.

CLINICAL FEATURES

The clinical picture in intoxicated victims would depend on the route of exposure. After aerosol exposure, signs and symptoms would depend on the dose inhaled. Accidental sublethal aerosol exposures which occurred in humans in the 1940’s were characterized by acute onset of the following symptoms in 4 to 8 hours: fever, chest tightness, cough, dyspnea, nausea, and arthralgias. The onset of profuse sweating some hours later was commonly the sign of termination of most of the symptoms. Although lethal human aerosol exposures have not been described, the severe pathophysiologic changes seen in the animal respiratory tract, including necrosis and severe alveolar flooding, are probably sufficient to cause death from ARDS and respiratory failure. Time to death in experimental animals is dose dependent, occurring 36-72 hours post inhalation exposure. Humans would be expected to develop severe lung inflammation with progressive cough, dyspnea, cyanosis and pulmonary edema.

By other routes of exposure, ricin is not a direct lung irritant; however, intravascular injection can cause minimal pulmonary perivascular edema due to vascular endothelial injury. Ingestion causes necrosis of the gastrointestinal epithelium, local hemorrhage, and hepatic, splenic, and renal necrosis. Intramuscular injection causes severe local necrosis of muscle and regional lymph nodes with moderate visceral organ involvement.

DIAGNOSIS

An attack with aerosolized ricin would be primarily diagnosed by the clinical and epidemiological setting. Acute lung injury affecting a large number of geographically clustered cases should raise suspicion of an attack with a pulmonary irritant such as ricin, although other pulmonary pathogens could present with similar signs and symptoms. Other biological threats, such as SEB, Q fever, tularemia, plague, and some chemical warfare agents like phosgene, need to be included in the differential diagnosis. Ricin-induced pulmonary edema would be expected to occur much later (1-3 days post exposure) compared to that induced by SEB (about 12 hours post exposure) or phosgene (about 6 hours post exposure). Ricin intoxication would be expected to progress despite treatment with antibiotics, as opposed to an infectious process. There would be no mediastinitis as seen with inhalation anthrax. Ricin patients would not be expected to plateau clinically as occurs with SEB intoxication.

Specific ELISA and ECL testing on serum and respiratory secretions, or immunohistochemical stains of tissue may be used where available to confirm the diagnosis. Ricin is an extremely immunogenic toxin, and paired acute and convalescent sera should be obtained from survivors for measurement of antibody response. PCR can detect castor bean DNA in most ricin preparations. Additional supportive clinical or diagnostic features after aerosol exposure to ricin may include the following: bilateral infiltrates on chest radiographs, arterial hypoxemia, neutrophilic leukocytosis, and a bronchial aspirate rich in protein compared to plasma which is characteristic of high permeability pulmonary edema.

MEDICAL MANAGEMENT

Management of ricin-intoxicated patients depends on the route of exposure. Patients with pulmonary intoxication are managed by appropriate respiratory support (oxygen, intubation, ventilation, PEEP, and hemodynamic monitoring) and treatment for pulmonary edema, as indicated. Gastrointestinal intoxication is best managed by vigorous gastric lavage, followed by use of cathartics such as magnesium citrate. Superactivated charcoal is of little value for large molecules such as ricin. Volume replacement of GI fluid losses is important. In percutaneous exposures, treatment would be primarily supportive.

PROPHYLAXIS

The protective mask is effective in preventing aerosol exposure. Although a vaccine is not currently available, candidate vaccines are under development which are immunogenic and confer protection against lethal aerosol exposures in animals. Pre-exposure Prophylaxis with such a vaccine is the most promising defense against a biological warfare attack with ricin.

23 posted on 06/19/2002 2:52:14 PM PDT by archy
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To: Henrietta
My grandmother use to make us take a teaspoon of castor oil any time we had a cold. Talk about gag me with a spoon.
24 posted on 06/19/2002 2:53:21 PM PDT by TexKat
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To: El Sordo
ROFLMBO!!

Thanks for my first *real* chuckle today!
25 posted on 06/19/2002 2:56:44 PM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29
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To: r9etb
I'm thinking he had problems with his neighbors' pets.

Bingo. Has anyone checked if his neighbors' dog is a "barker".
26 posted on 06/19/2002 3:14:17 PM PDT by BJClinton
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To: coloradan
What happens if you run afoul of the gov't and the MIB find Clorox and ammonia in your pantry? They make a deadly gas.

FR food for thought...

27 posted on 06/19/2002 4:12:21 PM PDT by Orion
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To: Orion
"they don't get out much" Well, here's hoping he NEVER gets OUT again!
28 posted on 06/19/2002 4:21:26 PM PDT by princess leah
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To: Cachelot
For us in the North, castor plants are houseplants, but it does grow wild in the south.

I did check on Thomas Leahy, Janesville WI. He was convicted of a number of state charges in 1998 & he's doing five years in the Wisco prison system. The notes from the case said he was in federal custody, but I don't know if he was charged and convicted of any federal laws. I don't have a PACER account.

29 posted on 06/19/2002 4:23:51 PM PDT by Catspaw
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To: PoisedWoman
"Chevy someone....Wonder if there's any connection to this case?"

I think you're talking about the Kehoe boys.

30 posted on 06/19/2002 4:24:39 PM PDT by Charge Carrier
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To: Aric2000
This story puzzles me because there is no South Florida link. Remember, ALL news stories nowadays have a South Florida connection in it somewhere.
31 posted on 06/19/2002 4:25:51 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
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To: princess leah
Huh?
32 posted on 06/19/2002 4:28:38 PM PDT by Orion
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To: Orion
Another Freeper claimed that a BATF agent bragged to him that he could convict anybody on possession of bomb-making components. "There is no way to rule innocent men... if there aren't enough criminals, one creates them, by declaring so many things illegal that it becomes impossible to live without breaking some law. ... Then, you can arrest whomever you choose to." - Ayn Rand
33 posted on 06/19/2002 5:19:08 PM PDT by coloradan
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To: Charge Carrier
"Is making ricin against the law?"

Yes. It's one of the more deadly poisons known to man.

Why was this guy REALLY manufacturing ricin? Don't be telling me it was for laxatives or for lock jaw, because we have labs which refine natural remedies for those things...

There's more here. Gotta be.

34 posted on 06/19/2002 5:21:08 PM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: coloradan
You got that right. Remember, this "war" has nothing to do with protecting us, but everything to do with protecting gov't power.

When this is over, our gov't will be a greater threat then Al-Queida ever dreamed of becoming.
35 posted on 06/19/2002 5:24:44 PM PDT by Orion
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To: Charge Carrier
"Don't be telling me it was for laxatives or for lock jaw, because we have labs which refine natural remedies for those things... "

Sorry...I just read my own post...the above part isn't directed at you but at the "government is trampling our rights, this guy must be released no matter what" crowd.

36 posted on 06/19/2002 5:29:37 PM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: Aric2000
They started investigating him BEFORE 9-11? I wonder of the FBI has nabbed a serial killer. (or they hope they have)
37 posted on 06/19/2002 5:33:03 PM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: cake_crumb
I'm surprised the guy didn't kill himself in the process of all this. Another one nailed. (Despite all the claims that our government isn't doing anything, it's all about power, money, W's/Cheney's oil interests, blah, blah, blah...)
38 posted on 06/19/2002 5:45:59 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: Betty Jo
What kind of climate do they do well in? I like big-leafed plants, but they are kind of hard to grow well here. Anything "tropical" and lush tends to die pretty fast...
39 posted on 06/19/2002 6:05:02 PM PDT by Henrietta
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To: Charge Carrier
about the Kehoe boys.

Thanks for the memory prompt. Chevy Kehoe and his brother....mmmmm...Dodge?

I'm still curious about why agents were watching this guy even before 911. A militia guy, perhaps? There are some in that area. Ricin doesn't seem militialike though.

40 posted on 06/19/2002 6:26:30 PM PDT by PoisedWoman
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