Ricin, Elvis and Las Vegas

On Wednesday an Elvis impersonator was arrested for mailing an envelope with ricin to President Obama.  Thankfully the envelope was intercepted before it ever got to its intended victim.  Read a nice summary here.   Of course there is more to the story.  According to the New York Times the suspect had uncovered a plot to sell body parts on the black market.    

Ricin, body parts and an Elvis impersonator.        

Ricin is not an easy poison to get.  It sounds simple.  Grow a castor bean plant (Ricinus communis), harvest the beans, get to ricin out, sing "Jail House Rock" and put the ricin in some letters.  Fortunately it is not that easy.  But "Suspicious Minds" have tried.  In February 2008 a man in Las Vegas was admitted to the hospital with respiratory difficulty and eventually lapsed into a coma.  It was discovered that he was attempting to process ricin. 

Ricin is leftover in the "mash" that results from the production of castor oil from castor beans.  It is nearly impossible to get poisoned by eating castor beans.  The beans pass whole thought your body and the ricin is not absorbed very well.   But once it is absorbed into the body it leads to alterations in protein synthesis.  The result is nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and then cardiac and hepatic injury.  Thankfully toxicity is treatable. 

Its Friday, the end of a difficult week.  We have had deaths in Boston, explosions in Texas and winter that will not leave.  We can be grateful for a sense of humor and Elvis.   Enjoy!