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CNN Live Today
Dangers of Ricin
Aired February 03, 2004 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities are waiting for final test results on what's suspected to be ricin poison found in a Senate office building. Joining us from Washington now to talk about ricin and its deadly potential is Jonathan Tucker, he is director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Program at the Monterey Institute for International Study. Thanks for being with us here.
JONATHAN TUCKER, MONTEREY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDY: Good to be with you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Let's talk about ricin. First of all, the good news, this is not something you just stumble upon easily.
TUCKER: Yes. But it is relatively accessible compared to other biological warfare agents. And that's the source of the concern about ricin.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: ... finding it and then making it. So let's talk about just kind of finding it in nature. You have a castor bean. You have to actually do something to the castor bean to make the ricin, correct?
TUCKER: Right. Castor beans are grown all over the world. They have industrial uses. They used to be used as a laxative many years ago. But now castor oil, which is extracted from castor beans, is widely used as an industrial lubricant.
And a million tons of castor beans are processed every year in countries such as Brazil , China and India. And what's left over after the oil is extracted is about 5 percent ricin by weight.
So this is a relatively accessible poison. And that's the cause of concern about it.
KAGAN: But the making of it, if someone did have an evil intent, the bad news is it's pretty easy to figure out how to do that.
TUCKER: Right, in fact cookbooks or recipes are available on the Internet. And there are publications such as "Silent Death" or "The Anarchist's Cookbook" that provide recipes for extracting ricin toxin from castor beans. It's a relatively simple process.
KAGAN: And how do protect yourself from it?
TUCKER: Well, the best way to protect one's self is by wearing a protective mask. There is otherwise no antidote when one is exposed. You just have to be treated symptomatically, particularly if the agent is inhaled.
It can be delivered either as an aerosol, in food, or even injected. And in fact it has been used as an assassination weapon in the past. There was a Bulgarian dissident in 1978 who was assassinated by the Bulgarian secret service using a pellet gun disguised as an umbrella in London.
So, it has been used as an assassination weapon in the past.
KAGAN: When you're looking at the global chemical and biological threat out there, where would you rank ricin, let's say, in terms of compared to like a dirty bomb or compared to anthrax?
TUCKER: The real concern about ricin is not that it's the most deadly biological weapon but it's probably the most available because castor beans, as I mentioned, are produced industrially all over the world. The -- what remains after the oil is extracted is 5 percent ricin by weight, fairly easy to extract.
So even though ricin is much less deadly than anthrax, for example, its accessibility is what makes it a real threat. And We know that al Qaeda, for example, has been interested in extracting ricin from castor beans.
KAGAN: Which will bring some more questions when we bring you back and talk to you a little bit more. Jonathan Tucker, thank you for being with us and answering our questions about ricin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 3, 2004 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities are waiting for final test results on what's suspected to be ricin poison found in a Senate office building. Joining us from Washington now to talk about ricin and its deadly potential is Jonathan Tucker, he is director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Program at the Monterey Institute for International Study. Thanks for being with us here.
JONATHAN TUCKER, MONTEREY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDY: Good to be with you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Let's talk about ricin. First of all, the good news, this is not something you just stumble upon easily.
TUCKER: Yes. But it is relatively accessible compared to other biological warfare agents. And that's the source of the concern about ricin.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: ... finding it and then making it. So let's talk about just kind of finding it in nature. You have a castor bean. You have to actually do something to the castor bean to make the ricin, correct?
TUCKER: Right. Castor beans are grown all over the world. They have industrial uses. They used to be used as a laxative many years ago. But now castor oil, which is extracted from castor beans, is widely used as an industrial lubricant.
And a million tons of castor beans are processed every year in countries such as Brazil , China and India. And what's left over after the oil is extracted is about 5 percent ricin by weight.
So this is a relatively accessible poison. And that's the cause of concern about it.
KAGAN: But the making of it, if someone did have an evil intent, the bad news is it's pretty easy to figure out how to do that.
TUCKER: Right, in fact cookbooks or recipes are available on the Internet. And there are publications such as "Silent Death" or "The Anarchist's Cookbook" that provide recipes for extracting ricin toxin from castor beans. It's a relatively simple process.
KAGAN: And how do protect yourself from it?
TUCKER: Well, the best way to protect one's self is by wearing a protective mask. There is otherwise no antidote when one is exposed. You just have to be treated symptomatically, particularly if the agent is inhaled.
It can be delivered either as an aerosol, in food, or even injected. And in fact it has been used as an assassination weapon in the past. There was a Bulgarian dissident in 1978 who was assassinated by the Bulgarian secret service using a pellet gun disguised as an umbrella in London.
So, it has been used as an assassination weapon in the past.
KAGAN: When you're looking at the global chemical and biological threat out there, where would you rank ricin, let's say, in terms of compared to like a dirty bomb or compared to anthrax?
TUCKER: The real concern about ricin is not that it's the most deadly biological weapon but it's probably the most available because castor beans, as I mentioned, are produced industrially all over the world. The -- what remains after the oil is extracted is 5 percent ricin by weight, fairly easy to extract.
So even though ricin is much less deadly than anthrax, for example, its accessibility is what makes it a real threat. And We know that al Qaeda, for example, has been interested in extracting ricin from castor beans.
KAGAN: Which will bring some more questions when we bring you back and talk to you a little bit more. Jonathan Tucker, thank you for being with us and answering our questions about ricin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
