Ricin Poison

Why in news?

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested three men for allegedly trying to produce a lethal chemical compound called Ricin.

• Source – Ricin is essentially a protein that can be extracted from the castor bean (extremely lethal—just 1 mg in food can kill an adult).
  • Castor is largely grown industrially for the production of castor oil in countries such as India, Brazil, and China.
  • The seeds typically contain 30% to 60% castor oil, with ricin accounting for 1% to 5% of the weight of the solid residue.
  • The plant is widely available, and the poison is not very difficult to extract from the seeds.

Ricin - listed as Schedule 1 toxin under the Chemical Weapons Convention — substances that pose the highest risk of being used as a chemical weapon, this list also includes sarin gas and blister agents such as mustard gas.

• Working – It works by binding to ribosomes and halting protein synthesis in cells, depending on which organs absorb it, this can lead to multi-organ failure and death.
• Symptoms – Ingesting ricin can lead to severe vomiting and diarrhoea - which can become bloody, low blood pressure, hallucinations and seizures, multi-organ failure, and death.
• Treatment – There is no antidote or specific treatment for ricin poisoning, and the treatment is symptomatic.
• Challenge – Diagnosing ricin poisoning, a significant challenge because it is so uncommon, doctors generally do not consider it as a possibility during a patient's initial visit.
• Historical use –
  • Military Interest – Studied by the U.S. in WWI and WWII, Iraq attempted to develop it as an inhalable agent in 1980.
  • Criminal Use – Assassination of Bulgarian journalist Georgi Markov in London (1978).

Reference

Indian Express | Ricin poison ‘terror plot’