U.S. Senate Proceedings Grind to Halt Due to Toxin Discovery
WASHINGTON – Senate office buildings were closed and much business ground to a halt Tuesday after a white powder discovered in a mailroom was determined to be the deadly toxin ricin.
The substance was found Monday afternoon in the mailroom that services the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in the Dirksen Senate Office Building .
Rep. Robert Simmons, R-2 nd District, released a statement announcing that mail service to his Washington congressional office and those of his colleagues was suspended.
“Due to the positive tests of ricin contamination in the U.S. Capitol complex, all mail delivery to congressional offices has been suspended until a mail-screening procedure is put into place,” Simmons said. “As a result, any correspondence that was recently mailed to my Washington congressional office may not reach me . I regret any inconvenience that this may cause.”
Although three Senate office buildings were closed, the House of Representatives kept to its schedule.
“The last I heard they hadn’t determined anything on the House side,” said Meghan Curran, a staffer in Simmons’ office. “The only thing we felt was the lack of mail. The House is pretty much running as usual.”
According to Dr. Charles McKay, associate medical director of the Connecticut Poison Control Center , ricin is derived from the castor bean, which is used in the production of castor oil. Although highly toxic when injected into the system, ricin’s effects as an inhalant are unknown, he said. The toxin, however, is not considered as deadly as anthrax, which closed down the Capitol when it was discovered in Senate mail in late 2001.
“Anthrax was an infectious biological organism,” said McKay, who works with the State Bioterrorism Task Force. “So you inhale small numbers and they multiply and grow. With ricin you have to get a sufficient amount of the compound into your system to cause the effects. It’s a slow poison; it prevents the cells from making their proteins, which results in multiple organ failure.”
He also said ricin was unlikely to be used in a bioterrorism attack.
“It’s not a very effective large-scale weapon,” McKay said. “It would take so much that it would be completely impractical.”
Federal authorities said they have no reason to believe this was an act of international terrorism.
The discovery of ricin came hours before a letter laced with white powder was found about 1 a.m. Tuesday at a Wallingford postal facility. Officials had not determined Tuesday what the substance was.
According to the Wallingford Police Department, the bulk reply envelope, addressed to Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington , was isolated two hours later by a hazardous material team working with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and Connecticut State Police. The FBI is investigating.
“We are in the process of testing the powder-like substance,” said William Gerrish, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., recalled that in late 2001, an 95-year-old Oxford woman died of anthrax poisoning.
“I’m hopeful that the substance found in Wallingford doesn’t turn out to be a threat,” he said in a statement. “Sadly our state previously had to deal with tragic consequences from anthrax attacks, and it goes without saying that my thoughts and prayers are with the workers there as they deal with these anxious moments.”
