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Senate Powder Tests Positive for Ricin

Posted on: Monday, 2 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Preliminary tests of a white powder discovered in a Senate office building Monday were positive for the potentially deadly poison ricin, the U.S. Capitol Police chief said.

Two out of three tests indicate ricin, Chief Terrance Gainer said at a late-evening news conference. The third test came out negative, and a fourth, more definitive test was under way, with results expected Tuesday.

Sixteen people who were on the floor where an envelope containing the white powder was discovered were being decontaminated and allowed to go home, Gainer said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., also at the news conference, said no symptoms were reported. "Everybody's fine" and there is "no cause for alarm," he said.

"Nobody is sick, we don't expect anybody to get sick," said Frist, a surgeon before his election to the Senate.

The envelope was discovered at about 3 p.m. in a mail room on the fourth floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Gainer said.

A government official said earlier that tests were being conducted at Fort Detrick in Maryland, with more definitive results expected by Tuesday. Gainer refused to say where the testing was taking place.

Authorities do not know if the substance was found on letter or package, the chief said.

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