Man Slips Into Coma After Ricin Discovery

Man Slips Into Coma After Ricin Discovery

news.aol.com

LAS VEGAS (Feb. 29) -- Police say a man is in critical condition after the deadly toxin ricin was found in his Las Vegas motel room.

Las Vegas police Lt. Lewis Roberts says the man has been in a coma since he was found in his room at the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday.

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I'm not sure if I'm remembering this incorrectly, but didn't some of the original news stories firstly say all 7 sent to the hospital were fine. And also that the person that they're referring to here was just moving stuff out when this substance was found. This article seems to be saying they found him in his room and that's when they found the ricin.

Michelle

news.aol.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Here's another article with a bit more info

Man in Criticial Condition After Ricin Find in Hotel Room



[edit on 29-2-2008 by Michelle129]

6 were exposed n had no problems, but the one guy who stayed in the room is in a coma.

the people exposed i think were like housekeepers, an prolly hotel staff

3 cops and 3 staff. The story is a changing though becuase originally it was reported that the person in the room turned it into the staff.

yeah i heard them say he turned or reported it to staff.... then why the hell did the people touch it? or even look at it, thats a no no anything suspicious needs to be reported asap an that floor an floors under an above it removed for a few.... now lets see i anyone else gets sick, becuz doesnt that spread thru air ducts?

What ricin is

* Ricin is a poison that can be made from the waste left over from processing castor beans.
* It can be in the form of a powder, a mist, or a pellet, or it can be dissolved in water or weak acid.
* It is a stable substance. For example, it is not affected much by extreme conditions such as very hot or very cold temperatures.

Where ricin is found and how it is used

* Castor beans are processed throughout the world to make castor oil. Ricin is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made.
* Ricin has some potential medical uses, such as bone marrow transplants and cancer treatment (to kill cancer cells).



How you could be exposed to ricin

* It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people. Accidental exposure to ricin is highly unlikely.
* People can breathe in ricin mist or powder and be poisoned.
* Ricin can also get into water or food and then be swallowed.
* Pellets of ricin, or ricin dissolved in a liquid, can be injected into people’s bodies.
* Depending on the route of exposure (such as injection or inhalation), as little as 500 micrograms of ricin could be enough to kill an adult. A 500-microgram dose of ricin would be about the size of the head of a pin. A greater amount would likely be needed to kill people if the ricin were swallowed.
* In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist who was living in London, died after he was attacked by a man with an umbrella. The umbrella had been rigged to inject a poison ricin pellet under Markov’s skin.
* Some reports have indicated that ricin may have been used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and that quantities of ricin were found in Al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan.
* Ricin poisoning is not contagious. It cannot be spread from person to person through casual contact.

FACTS ABOUT RICIN

[edit on 29-2-2008 by Trance Optic]

[edit on 29-2-2008 by Trance Optic]

[edit on 29-2-2008 by Trance Optic]

reply to post by esdad71


Yeah, that's what I thought I had read, but couldn't remember. From the initial articles I was assuming this guy must not be involved if he turned the substance in. Now I'm not so sure. I guess we'll have to wait for the full story to come out (or as much as they'll let out anyhow lol).

Thanks for the clarification!

Michelle

Better question ....

Who is this guy? I wanna know who he worked for or what he knew..... this wasnt a acident the stuff was in his room, someone didnt want him to live.

How can they say its not terrorism when you have to make this stuff an put it in some containment unit...... that sounds lieka form of terrorism to me, maybe not foreign but something.

[edit on 29-2-2008 by Trance Optic]