See here
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/terror.poison/index.html
Ricin is deadly!
In powdered form, it spreads like a gas!
UK Dopers–keep in contact!
Hmm? I wouldn’t say London is “on alert”; I just came home from work and only found out about the story reading a news website. Nothing seems to have changed much outside.
From the article
The authorities are calling on citizens to be highly aware of their surroundings, & report any suspicious activities to the Police.
Close enough to an “alert” to me!
Me neither. I’ve just read the BBC News Website ,and they seem to be saying that the police are saying
Bosda - the BBC are also saying that it was a tiny amount, not enough to be used in a chemical bomb or spray.
Trust me, there’s no alert; the streets are filled with people as usual, the underground is running smoothly and I’ve seen no more police around than any other day. It’s certainly a worry, but everything I’ve seen and read suggests that it was an “amateur” operation.
They’re “North African”–could Quaddifi be getting back into the game?
He’d be an idiot to try, he’s only now starting to normalise relations with Britain following the Lockerbie trial.
My guess? Individual extremists, not even necessarily part of a larger international group.
UPDATES-----------------------------
1)PM Blair describes this as the most significant terrorist event since 9/11.
BBC link-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2636099.stm
2)Additional Ricin data & lab test info from the samples captured—
Mankind never should have opened the Pandora’s Box that is the castor bean. :rolleyes:
While I don’t want to sound like I don’t care, this appears to be another example of something to be concerned about but not quite as alarmed as if we found traces of plutonium in the apartment.
More media hysteria.
Not that I’m not gonna look over my shoulder at the bus stop tomorrow, especially eyeing the guy with the umbrella with the pointed tip. 
Castor beans are a common, naturalized, weed throughout much of the southwest. It grows as a perennial as far north as Sacramento CA. Harvesting the toxin from the seeds is simple enough that it does not require an advanced degree. I’ve grown lovely 15’ castor beans for the past decade, and terrorists have yet to make off with the seeds; which may be purchased at many garden stores.
It’s disturbing that someone was grinding up quantities of the seeds at home, but in the US at least, there’s not much that can be done to limit the availability of the seed.
Blair’s quote is here .
It says, “This is the most significant find of poisonous materials in Britain since 11 September 2001 in relation to terrorism and possible attacks on Britain.”
Not the same thing at all.
A la The Prisoner & Number 6?
A la Aum Shinrikyo, Violet. But the undertakers from The Prisoner were way cooler.
(Anyone else think of Illuminatus! when you see their name?)
Unless I’ve been horribly whooshed…
This is what samclem is talking about
THE KILLING OF Mr. GEORGI MARKOV
And I thought he was worried about the Penguin…
Or merely individual Algerian, Moroccan, Libyan, Tunisian or Egyptian terrorists?
It could be part of a feasibility study they were doing, but the worry is - what if the “trace” was the remnants of a production job? That shit is nasty. The “lab” was just down the road from my brother. :mad:
Of course, there is another, possibly innocent, explanation:
Maybe the trace they found was just as a result of making castor oil?
That’s kinda what the British have had to do for the last 30 years. Terrorism isn’t new over there unfortunatly.
I read in the paper that the “small amount” is actually enough to kill 250,000 people :eek:
Oh shit there’s all this white stuff falling out of the sky all over london!
It could be Ricin!
Doomed! We’re all doomed!
J.