# Ricin Chemweapon found in UK! London On Alert!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 7, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155 "2003-01-07T16:46:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155/21 "2003-01-08T13:31:42Z")

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Imagine if they mixed their ricin with another _ahem_ white powder (known in certain circles as ‘boosty woosty’).

They could wipe out the entire City of London (not to mention all of our celebs) in a single evening!

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**Author:** ![Sebhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Sebhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sebhal)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155/22 "2003-01-08T13:37:04Z")

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I think that they’d have to be pretty stupid terrorists to try to cause mass deaths with this stuff. There are bound to be more practical things to have used. Unless, of course, their aim was to kill fewer, more hig-profile people. . .

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155/23 "2003-01-08T13:59:19Z")

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Or just realease it and see what happens. One thing’s for certain it would throw the whole Country and possibly all of the west in panic.

I remember there were a few days of hoax calls/ false alarms in Ireland during the height of the Anthrax thing iin the States.

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155/24 "2003-01-08T14:04:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by yojimbo \*  
> \*\*I remember there were a few days of hoax calls/ false alarms in Ireland during the height of the Anthrax thing iin the States. \*\*

God, I remember that: I work just opposite University College Dublin, and the whole place was cordoned off, with people in white space suits running around. Quite interesting, albeit a little unnerving. Wasn’t the culprit some bored 17-year-old from down the country?

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ricin-chemweapon-found-in-uk-london-on-alert/147155/25 "2003-01-08T14:16:07Z")

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Yep, little shit was sending envelopes around with talcum powder in them.

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