http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/ricin.hot...tion=cnn_latest

 

(CNN) -- Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of what they said is the deadly poison ricin in a hotel room.

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No one has shown symptoms of ricin poisoning after the toxin was found Thursday at a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel.

 

Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. PT Thursday after a man brought a bag with a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.

 

The substance is "100 percent ricin," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. "We don't know who [the ricin] belongs to or why it would be here at this time."

 

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Friday there does not appear to be a link to terrorists.

 

Three hotel employees and a fourth person who came to the room to retrieve some items went to the hospital as a precaution, Officer Ramon Dendy said. Three police officers who entered the room also are being watched at the hospital. All have been decontaminated, and none of the seven have shown symptoms of ricin poisoning, which can include anything from difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

 

"We did have enough ricin to be of concern," Lombardo said. "At this point, it has been contained and processed where it's not a threat to anybody." Video Watch police discuss the ricin discovery »

 

Lombardo said areas of the hotel that were exposed to the toxin have been decontaminated as well.

 

Police said they don't know how many people have stayed in the room recently.

 

The discovery of ricin alarms law-enforcement agencies because authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspect extremists and ricin.

 

Lombardo said police do not have any suspects at this time.

 

Ricin is a poison that can be made from waste left over after processing castor beans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

The toxin can come in the form of a mist or pellet and can be dissolved in water or weak acid, according to the CDC. The agency also said the toxin works by getting inside the cells of a person's body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need.

 

As little as 500 micrograms -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult. Video Watch how just a minute amount of ricin can kill »

 

Lombardo said authorities found castor beans in the room and also powder in a small vial. He said ricin is not illegal to own, but it's illegal if processed to be used for poisoning someone.

 

Ricin has limited medical uses -- it can be used to kill cancer cells and bone marrow transplants.

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There have been other reported cases involving ricin in the United States. In January 2005, the FBI arrested an Ocala, Florida, man with no known ties to terrorists or extremists after agents found ricin in the home he lives in with his mother.

 

Ricin was found in February 2004 in the mailroom of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. The mailroom handles correspondence addressed to U.S. lawmakers. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

 

CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

Wow,the amount the size of a head pin can kill an adult.I didnt know this stuff was that powerful.This isnt the same poison they used on Viktor Yushchenko is it?

Wow,the amount the size of a head pin can kill an adult.I didnt know this stuff was that powerful.This isnt the same poison they used on Viktor Yushchenko is it?

 

 

All I could find was that he was poisoned with Dioxins, I dont know that they ever came out and said it was ricin

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/11...tria/index.html

Wow,the amount the size of a head pin can kill an adult.I didnt know this stuff was that powerful.This isnt the same poison they used on Viktor Yushchenko is it?

 

Are you talking about the Russian spy in Britian? I think it was thallium or polonium. It was something radioactive.

Are you talking about the Russian spy in Britian? I think it was thallium or polonium. It was something radioactive.

 

No, he is talking about the Ukranian president who was poisoned in the middle of his presidential campaign, and his face became all troll-like in the process. It was pretty horrifying

No, he is talking about the Ukranian president who was poisoned in the middle of his presidential campaign, and his face became all troll-like in the process. It was pretty horrifying

Ya it was horrifying,Joe Viterelli from "Analyze This" was also poisoned in the same manner http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019158/photos

s***...that's where I left it.

No, he is talking about the Ukranian president who was poisoned in the middle of his presidential campaign, and his face became all troll-like in the process. It was pretty horrifying

 

Ah gotcha.