Poisonous Ricin-Laced Letter Intercepted Before Senator Received It

In what perhaps parallels the anthrax letters that were sent after 9-11, two suspicious letters have been sent this week, following the bombs detonated at the Boston Marathon this Monday. On Tuesday it was announced that a letter addressed to Mississippi’s Sen. Roger Wicker tested positive for ricin in a mail processing facility. Later that day, a letter addressed to Obama was also set aside as it had a suspicious substance on it.

Ricin is a poison derived from castor beans that can be put in powder form or pellet form, and can be dissolved in water. Every year there is at least one false positive for the substance, so we are not certain yet if the letter is in fact ricin-laced. Such a letter was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in 2004 and was also identified before it received his staff.

“It rarely gets to the member before it goes through a lot of staff,” said Arizona senator Flake. “That’s a big concern, obviously, for all of us. So we are very anxious to get more details on this.”

“This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capital Police and FBI,” said Wicker. “I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe. [My wife] Gayle and I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers.”