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Frist: Powder Found in Office Is Ricin

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday that a white powder found in his office tested positive for ricin, forcing closure of Senate office buildings and close scrutiny of congressional mail.

But business went on in the Senate itself as lawmakers turned to a highway spending bill, a day after the jarring discovery of the suspicious substance. That was a chilling second act in the wake of the anthrax attack of last year, still under investigation.

While the test confirmed "that this was ricin," Frist told his colleagues as the Senate opened its session Tuesday, none of the substance has turned up outside his office.

"All air sampling and all environmental studies today are negative with the exception of what was found in that single office at that site," he said.

In that case, Frist said, "The powder was ultimately determined to be ricin."

Charles Dasey, a spokesman at Fort Detrick, Md., said scientists there were doing a "confirmatory" test on the substance. The test is "higher reliability" but will take longer, he said.

In 2001, an anthrax-laced letter shut down Congress briefly and closed the Hart Senate Office Building for months of expensive cleaning. Five people were killed and 17 sickened nationwide after coming into contact with letters containing anthrax.

"Somebody in all likelihood manufactured this with intent to harm," Frist said Tuesday. "This is a criminal investigation."

Several members of Frist's staff went through decontamination procedures, but there were no reports of anyone becoming sick, said Senate sources speaking on condition of anonimity.

Capitol Police advised lawmakers not to open any mail.

One reason that all three Senate office buildings were closed was to give authorities an opportunity to check senators' mail, one source said.

Dirksen and the other two main Senate office buildings were closed Tuesday as authorities were to remove and test all mail that has been delivered there. Senate officials were hoping that process would take only a day, said one congressional official speaking on condition of anonymity.

The closures were forcing the cancellation of committee meetings scheduled for those buildings. But the Capitol was to remain open with the Senate convening Tuesday morning as scheduled.

On the House side of the Capitol, mail deliveries have been suspended and Capitol Police have advised lawmakers not to open any mail. However, hearings and debate on the House floor were to proceed as usual.

There were no reports of anyone becoming sick from exposure as of Tuesday morning, the congressional official said.

At least 16 people on the floor were decontaminated, and others who might have been in the area were urged to contact Senate officials, Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer told reporters at a late Monday night news conference. The decontamination procedure was not explained, but witnesses saw some people emerging into the cold from a van outside the Dirksen building clad only in T-shirts and pants. One wore a white jumpsuit.

However, no one was expected to get sick, said Frist, who normally uses his Capitol majority leader's office instead of the Dirksen office. If symptoms of ricin poisoning have not surfaced in about eight hours, contamination is unlikely, said Frist, a surgeon before his election to the Senate.

A majority of tests conducted on the powder indicated ricin, Gainer said, even though some were negative.

In Connecticut, meanwhile, a postal worker found an unidentified powder leaking out of an envelope addressed to the Republican National Committee, and inspectors were trying to identify it. The powder was found late Monday at the Wallingford postal sorting center, the same facility where anthrax spores were found in 2001.

A clue to ricin poisoning is a suddenly developed fever, cough and excess fluid in the lungs, a fact sheet from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. These symptoms could be followed by severe breathing problems and possibly death, the CDC said. There is no known antidote.

Twice as deadly as cobra venom, ricin, which is derived from the castor bean plant, is relatively easily made and can be inhaled, ingested or injected.

Gainer said they were still investigating how the powder got into the mailroom.

The Homeland Security Department was monitoring the situation, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. An FBI official said the agency was awaiting a final test from a laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., before deciding whether to get more fully involved in the case.

Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota was majority leader in 2001 when deadly anthrax was found in letters sent to his office and the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in the Hart Senate Office Building. No one was ever arrested in those incidents.

Hundreds of Capitol workers, reporters and tourists who were in the Hart building lined up for tests and doses of Cipro and other antibiotics after the anthrax attack. Areas of that building were closed for months for decontamination.

Bob Stevenson, a spokesman for Frist, said Capitol tours were being suspended, Senate restaurants closed and Senate pages given the day off. But he said essential Capitol employees were expected to report to work as usual.

The House was scheduled to convene at 12:30 p.m.

Frist gave no indication that extra security had been ordered for the Capitol complex, although security in the area has been high since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Mail to congressional offices has been irradiated since the 2001 anthrax attack, but Frist said radiation is unlikely to have an effect on ricin.

In October, a package containing ricin was found at a postal facility serving Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina.

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On the Net:

Senate site: http://www.senate.gov

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facts about ricin: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/facts.asp

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