Saturday, February 25, 2006

ricin beans

what the?
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3 comments:

Andrew Jones said...

Yeah- this was fucked up.

I walked home last night right through Jester- nothing doing when I was walking through.

I get home, turn the TV on: lo and behold, there on the News is a report from the UT campus just where I was with about a gazillion fire trucks and police in the background.

Crazy.

10:36 AM
rebeccaonion said...

Well, now I'm remembering that when we drove to that six feet under play last night there were a whole hell of a lot of police cars downtown...but I think that may have been for Mardi Gras.

11:03 AM
rebeccaonion said...

All-clear:

Monday, February 27, 2006

Suspicious Powder Was Not Ricin, FBI Determines After Scare at U. of Texas at Austin

By KELLY FIELD


A ricin scare at the University of Texas at Austin over the weekend ended late Sunday afternoon when a fifth and final test determined that a whitish-brown power discovered in a dormitory was not the poison.

The test, which was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at a military laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Frederick, Md., showed that the coarse powder was "not any kind of poison or virus," and was "not terrorist-connected" said special agent Rene Salinas, a spokesman with the bureau's San Antonio office. The test did not indicate what the powder was, however.

The investigation into the suspicious substance began on Thursday afternoon, when Kelly Heinbaugh, a freshman at the university, discovered a white powder in a roll of quarters that her mother had given her to do laundry. After an initial test indicated that the powder was ricin, university officials briefed the 400 students in the Moore-Hill dormitory, and temporarily evacuated the building late Friday while hazardous-materials crews sanitized the laundry room and Ms. Heinbaugh's dorm room.

After the initial field test, three additional tests were conducted on the substance, and the results came back inconclusive, negative, and negative, said Warren Hassinger, public information manager for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. Federal officials, meanwhile, collected samples that were taken to Fort Detrick for more conclusive testing.

Specialists at the emergency-services agency have speculated that the substance may have been a granular material that is used to clean and dry coins before they are rolled.

Ms. Heinbaugh, who has tested negative for ricin exposure, could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Ricin, which can be inhaled or ingested, can cause breathing difficulties, fever, cough, nausea, and sweating, and can be deadly in some cases.

9:03 AM

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