How Deadly Is Ricin?

[ralph124c]

The arrest in London of 5 N African men (who apparently had been storing the poison Ricin) puzzles me. Ricin (derived from the castor bean plant) is supposedly a very deadly poison-it was used by Bulgarian agents to kill an anti-communist BBC announcer in London years ago.
So, how poisonous is the stuff, and how would you use it as a weapon? Can it be dissolved in drinking water? Plus, how hard is it to make huge quantities of the stuff?:rolleyes:

[plnnr]

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/ricin/ricin.html

According to this site, ricin is just about the most deadly naturally occuring substance out there. It apparently can be produced without much effort at all and methods of getting into the population don't appear to be too complicated.

[Celyn]

Slight hijack - but were these the Bulgarians with the poisoned umbrellas in 1978 or thereabouts? It seemed sort of comical sat the time, although of course it wasn't.

[Mangetout]

Yes, the poisoned ubrella thing was Ricin (very nearly misdiagnosed as death from Septicemia).

Apparently a single molecule of Ricin entering a living cell is enough to shut down protein synthesis and kill it.

[Brutus]

A related hijack; Does it have any legitimate use for the common man? Is their any reason (other then "I want to kill a bunch of people") that a person would have some of this stuff at home? (I dunno, maybe it gets stains out of silk or something...)

[jjimm]

Originally posted by Brutus
A related hijack; Does it have any legitimate use for the common man? Is their any reason (other then "I want to kill a bunch of people") that a person would have some of this stuff at home? (I dunno, maybe it gets stains out of silk or something...) In small doses it's a laxative (active ingredient in Castor Oil).

[Mangetout]

Castor oil does not contain Ricin; or at least the laxative effect of castor oil is not due to Ricin being the active ingredient (it may contain minute traces). Although I'm pretty sure that there are sources out there claiming it is.

[jjimm]

Originally posted by Mangetout
Although I'm pretty sure that there are sources out there claiming it is. Indeed, I was basing my assertion on this cite (http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/castor.htm), which may be wrong.In very small doses, Ricin only causes the human digestive tract to convulse- hence the laxative effect of castor oil.The lethal dose in the Markov case was 450mg. That's not a lot really.

[scr4]

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/ricin.facts/index.html) says it's far less deadly than anthrax:
To equal one kilogramme of anthrax, four metric tons of ricin would be needed. On the other hand, anthrax can be treated, if caught early enough.

[Squink]

The lethal dose in the Markov case was 450mg. That's not a lot really. Surely you mean 450 micrograms. I don't see as it'd be practical to inject half a gram with a trick umbrella. A quick search for the ld-50 of ricin turns up numbers in the 1-30 microgram/kg range. That'd be consistant with a 450 microgram does, and be more consistant with the materials reputation as a powerful toxin.

[jjimm]

Sorry, that's what I meant.

[Mangetout]

From this (http://waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexer1.htm) site:
According to the Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals (1997), a dose of ricin weighing only 70 micrograms or two millionths of an ounce (roughly equivalent to the weight of a single grain of table salt from a salt shaker) is sufficient to kill a 150 pound (68 kg) person.

See, I always said that salt is bad for you.

[raygirvan]

jjimm
...this cite, which may be wrong ..
"In very small doses, Ricin only causes the human digestive tract to convulse- hence the laxative effect of castor oil".

I'm not convinced either. A skim of sources, such as this one (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/vnutritionist/reference_guides/castor_oil.htm), suggest that it's down to the oil's main constitutent: a fatty acid oil that hydrolizes in the gut to ricinoleic acid or its salt sodium ricinoleate (a soap, in fact) which - according to what version you read - then gives you the trots by acting as a direct irritant and/or stopping the gut wall re-absorbing water.

What's the betting we have scares now about anything with "ricin-" in the name? For instance, sodium ricinoleate is a bog-standard and throughly safe emulsifier used in toothpastes (the "SR" in Gibbs SR).

[3waygeek]

According to a CNN report I saw the other day, Al Qaeda has done some research into ricin. In notes found at an Al Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan, it's claimed that the ricin from seven castor beans is sufficient to kill a baby.

Combined with mangetout's data, that suggests that there's only a few micrograms of ricin in the typical castor bean. That is, until someone genetically engineers a super castor bean with more ricin :eek:

[Davebear]

Originally posted by scr4
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/ricin.facts/index.html) says it's far less deadly than anthrax:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To equal one kilogramme of anthrax, four metric tons of ricin would be needed. On the other hand, anthrax can be treated, if caught early enough.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Without the context, this is like comparing apples to green beans, never mind oranges. They must have been referring to the "mass destruction" potential of the two substances. A given amount of anthrax could potentially kill many more people than the same amount of ricin, because anthrax is contagious. It doesn't require that a victim have any direct exposure to the source of the infection, whereas ricin must be directly "consumed" (ingested/inhaled/absorbed).

[RiverRunner]

Davebear hit the crucial distinction; anthrax can reproduce itself, whereas ricin can't. That's not to say that ricin wouldn't be a very dangerous toxin indeed.

The toxicity of ricin is also very dependent upon its route of entry into the body; it requires much more of it to be lethal when introduced orally (~1 milligram/kilogram of body weight) than when injected (the famous umbrella pellet probably contained less than 3 micrograms/kilogram).

Ricin can be exceptionally deadly; I think it is just behind plutonium in the Guinness Book of World Records in terms of lethality. I'm reading a cite (Balint, 1974) -- I don't know if it's available online -- that says that 1 kg of ricin would be lethal to 3.6 million people as opposed to 1 kg of cyanide's 116,000.


RR

[aeropl]

Originally posted by 3waygeek
it's claimed that the ricin from seven castor beans is sufficient to kill a baby.



I have literally hundreds of Castor Bean plants growing in my backyard. They are pretty much weeds where I live. According to the same site mentioned earlier (http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/castorbean.html), one Castor Bean can kill a baby. I can't find a cite, but I remember reading that about 7 beans will kill an adult. Maybe that was confused.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally posted by RiverRunner
Ricin can be exceptionally deadly; I think it is just behind plutonium in the Guinness Book of World Records in terms of lethality.

Not sure how such things are measured (amoutn needed to kill you, chances of recovery after exposure, time it takes to die after exposure, etc.). However, while Ricin is certainly quite dangerous I think Botulism Toxin (http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/pages/agents/agentbotox.html) is ranked as the most lethal thing there is.

(From link above...bolding is mine)
Botulinum toxin poses a major bioweapons threat because of its extreme potency and lethality; its ease of production, transport and misuse; and the potential need for prolonged intensive care in affected persons. Botulinum toxin is the single most poisonous substance known.

[Duckster]

The seeds from the castor bean plant, Ricinus communis, are poisonous to people, animals and insects. One of the main toxic proteins is "ricin", named by Stillmark in 1888 when he tested the beans' extract on red blood cells and saw them agglutinate. Now we know that the agglutination was due to another toxin that was also present, called RCA (Ricinus communis agglutinin). Ricin is a potent cytotoxin but a weak hemagglutinin, whereas RCA is a weak cytotoxin and a powerful hemagglutinin.

Poisoning by ingestion of the castor bean is due to ricin, not RCA, because RCA does not penetrate the intestinal wall, and does not affect red blood cells unless given intravenously. If RCA is injected into the blood, it will cause the red blood cells to agglutinate and burst by hemolysis.

Perhaps just one milligram of ricin can kill an adult.

-- snip --

It is said that just one seed can kill a child. Children are more sensitive than adults to fluid loss due to vomiting and diarrhea, and can quickly become severely dehydrated and die. Castor bean plants in a garden should not be allowed to flower and seed. Source: http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/ricin/ricin.html

Ricin is a potent toxin that has potential to be used as an agent of biological warfare and as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). Ricin is widely available, easily produced, and derived from the beans of the castor plant (Ricinus communis).

In attempting to evaluate and discuss agents that can be used as WMDs, the question, "What can cause a maximum credible event?" hopefully is answered. A maximum credible event is one that could cause a large loss of life in addition to disruption, panic, and overwhelming use of civilian healthcare resources. For an agent to be considered capable of causing a maximum credible event, it should be highly lethal, inexpensively and easily produced in large quantities, stable in aerosol form, and have the ability to be dispersed (1-5 mm). The ideal agent also is communicable from person to person and has no treatment or vaccine.

When ricin's characteristics are applied to this model, its use appears limited but should not be underestimated. Ricin is produced easily and inexpensively, is highly toxic, is stable in aerosolized form, and has no treatment or vaccine. Its toxicity when compared to living replicating biological agents limits ricin's use. A large amount of ricin is necessary to produce the desired effect of a WMD. For example, the amount of ricin necessary to cover a 100-km2 area and cause 50% lethality, assuming aerosol toxicity of 3 mcg/kg and optimum dispersal conditions, is approximately 4 metric tons, whereas only 1 kg of Bacillus anthracis is required. Ricin, however, would have efficacy as a disabling agent. Its use as a food and water contaminant easily could incapacitate many and overwhelm local healthcare resources. Thus, its use as a food and water contaminant is a major concern because of ricin's ease of availability.

Ricin can be disseminated as an aerosol, by injection, or as a food and water contaminant.Source: http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic889.htm This same link also describes mortality and morbidity depend on the route and amount of exposure. Look at the bottom of the page.

Ricin poisoning is not contagious, and is not spread from one person to another. A person must be exposed to ricin by inhalation, ingestion, or injection to be poisoned. Source: http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/healthtips/BCD/Ricin.htm

There are many potential human biological pathogens. A North Atlantic Treaty Organization handbook dealing with biological warfare defense lists 39 agents, including bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, and toxins, that could be used as biological weapons. Examining the relationship between aerosol infectivity and toxicity versus quantity of agent illustrates the requirements for producing equivalent effects and narrows the spectrum of possible agents that could be used to cause large numbers of casualities. For example, the amount of agent needed to cover a 100-km2 area and cause 50% lethality is 8 metric tons for even a "highly toxic" toxin such as ricin versus only kilogram quantities of anthrax needed to achieve the same coverage. Thus, deploying an agent such as ricin over a wide area, although possible, becomes impractical from a logistics standpoint, even for a well-funded organization. The potential impact on a city can be estimated by looking at the effectiveness of an aerosol in producing downwind casualties. The World Health Organization in 1970 modeled the results of a hypothetical dissemination of 50 kg of agent along a 2-km line upwind of a large population center. Anthrax and tularemia are predicted to cause the highest number of dead and incapacitated, as well as the greatest downwind spread. Source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no4/kortepeter.htm

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally posted by Duckster
Source: http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/ricin/ricin.html

Perhaps just one milligram of ricin can kill an adult.

Not that there is a competition here or anything but again botulism seems to have Ricin beat by an order of magnitude. It may be that under the most 'ideal' conditions you could get 1 gram of Ricin to kill 1,000 adults. By comparison:

Botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance known.6, 7 A single gram of crystalline toxin, evenly dispersed and inhaled, would kill more than 1 million people, although technical factors would make such dissemination difficult.

SOURCE: Botulinum Toxin as a Biological Weapon (http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n8/ffull/jst00017.html)

[Agback]

Originally posted by jjimm
The lethal dose in the Markov case was 450mg. That's not a lot really.

450 milligrams? Are you sure it wasn't 450 micrograms?

Regards,


Agback

[jjimm]

Originally posted by Agback
450 milligrams? Are you sure it wasn't 450 micrograms? Correction already accepted.

[MaryEFoo]

aeropl, what do the castor beans look like? If they are oval and about half an inch long, are they the ones you used to see in cheap imported necklaces? I'd heard they are poisonous.

[MaryEFoo]

The quote from Cornell, "For an agent to be considered capable of causing a maximum credible event, it should be highly lethal, inexpensively and easily produced in large quantities, stable in aerosol form, and have the ability to be dispersed (1-5 mm). The ideal agent also is communicable from person to person and has no treatment or vaccine."

I think they are in error on that last sentence, saying ideally it would be communicable as well as untreatable.

That makes it uncontrollable by the terrorist, ie once he has turned it loose in his target country it can spread anywhere, including to his own home. That's why I am not really worried about Al Quaeda using smallpox.

The communicable/untreatable scenario could be used to bluff; or it could be used by a psycho who really wants everyone to die, no matter what.

Ricin, botulism, anthrax can be aimed at a target.