Tori Frisbie and Kyle O’Neill

 It is a cytotoxin protein found in castor beans  It is produced as powders, mists, or pellets from processing castor beans  Castor bean plants are indigenous to Africa and India

 The outer coat of castor beans are removed  Then the beans are cooked  They are mashed and filtered  Solvents are added to extract the ricin  Then it can be put into may different forms (powder, pills, ect)

 Ricin can be injected, inhaled, or swallowed  Injected/inhaled: 22µg/kg ( g/kg)  Oral exposure: 20-30mg/kg ( g/kg)  A speck or pure ricin the size of a grain of salt is enough to kill a human

 It blocks messaging from RNA  Inhibits protein synthesis  Essential amino acids are not produced by the body  Only a small amount is needed to have effects on humans

 No immediate symptoms  Symptoms in a few hours: nausea, diarrhea, tachycardia (100+ heart beats a minute), hypotension (low blood pressure), tightness in the chest, and seizures  Organ failure is the cause of death (liver, kidney, lungs, spleen, stomach, ect.)  Usually victims die within 2 to 5 days  Survivors have tissue damage

 There is currently no vaccine or antidote  Scientists are working on an antidote  Not even a widely available test to reliably confirm the presence of ricin

 Scientists are researching it as a possible cure for cancer  Castor beans are used to make castor oil, used as a purgative and lubricant to manufacture oil-based products (brake and hydraulic fluid)  Castor oil is also supposedly used to help induce labor

 Ricin was the toxin found in the letters sent to President Obama and Mississippi Senator Rodger Wicker in April 2013  Incidents with ricin-laced letters in 2003 and 2004 as well

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