Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Poison Letter Also Sent To Obama- Second Letter Sent To U.S. Senate Tested Positive For Ricin Poison

By Susan Duclos

On Tuesday the news broke that a letter sent to a U.S. Senator was tested positive for the deadly Ricin poison.

Today we see reports that a second letter has been intercepted that has also ested positive for Ricin.

Via ABC News:

No other information was released about who the letter was addressed to or when it was intercepted.
Authorities declined to comment on a suspect or any other aspect of the investigation being led by Capitol Police and the FBI after tests indicated that a letter mailed to the Washington office of Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., contained the potentially deadly toxin.

The letter was intercepted at a Senate mail facility in Prince George's County, Md., just outside Washington, said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the Senate's Democratic leadership.


The Hill reports another letter was intercepted, to Barack Obama, and it too has been tested and found to be poison as well, but it has not been named as ricin.

 The Secret Service said the letter was sent to Obama on April 16 and was discovered at a remove White House mail screening facility.

"This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery," the Secret Service said in a statement. "The Secret Service White House mail screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through."

The agency said it is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in the investigation.
Fox News reported that like the letter to Wicker, the letter to Obama was sent from Memphis, Tenn. Fox News said the letters to Obama and Wicker contained similar language and are signed identically.

[Update] Letter to Obama positive for Ricin as well, via Politico.


CDC page "Facts about Ricin" can be found here.