Ricin discovered in UT dormitory (Austin)

[sonias]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/25ricin.html
Ricin discovered in dormitory
Students moved from Moore-Hill after exposure confirmed.
By Whitney L. Becker
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, February 25, 2006

Ricin, a potentially deadly poison, was found in a University of Texas dormitory Thursday by a student who reported the substance to school police officers.

The dorm was sanitized, and the substance was sent to a laboratory for testing and came back positive for ricin Friday night. University officials said they had not yet determined where it came from.

A "small amount" of UT students living in Moore-Hill dormitory were exposed to the substance, UT police spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon said.

The students are now at an undisclosed location and are in contact with the FBI. They are not showing any symptoms, officials said. Other students living in Moore-Hill were being moved to Jester dormitory Friday night, Weldon said.

Well that's not good. I hope those students that were exposed will be okay.

Sonia

[GOPisEvil]

1. Holy crap!!

I hope it's nothing more than a dumbass prank gone wrong. Hope everyone's ok...

[drm604]

2. According to CNN it was a powder found in a laundry room.

Castor oil (which ricin is derived from) is sometimes used as an ingredient in laundry detergent! So, a powder found in a laundry room tested positive for an ingredient often found in laundry detergent. Gee, I wonder what it could be? :sarcasm:

I posted about this here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=517158&mesg_id=517759

If I could do the research in about 15 minutes time then what the hell is up with CNN? What the hell is up with the authorities in Texas for that matter? And why did anyone freak out over a powder found in a laundry room? That's probably the last place I'd be suspicious of a powder!

[GOPisEvil]

3. Now it's NOT ricin...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/26ricin.html

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Powder found at UT may not be ricin
After one positive result, further tests have been negative, officials say.

By Laura Heinauer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, February 25, 2006

A whitish-brown powder found in a University of Texas dormitory may not be ricin after all, officials said Saturday.

Mike Elliott, senior district commander for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services, said that although one test returned a positive result for the potentially deadly poison, subsequent tests have been negative.

"I'm pretty confident it's not ricin," Elliott said Saturday.

Investigators said a female student from Moore-Hill dormitory discovered the powder after opening a roll of quarters in her dorm room to do laundry. UT officials said the roll was one of several given to her by her parents sometime in the fall.

[sonias]

4. Texas Department of State Health Services laboratory in Austin

just flunked. Tell me how these people in this lab, took one test declared it ricin, and then did three subsequent tests and say oops we're sorry. You think they could have run several tests that night so that when the second one came up negative they wouldn't have created a panic.

The state of laboratory testing in this state is pathetic. We send people to death row because people accept the quality of the work, Texas labs do. You can read more of the low performing labs from Grits for Breakfast.

CJAC: Pork Not Probity for Texas Crime Labs
Why throw that much more money at Texas DPS? They're the ones (along with the Houston PD crime lab) whose errant analyses already convicted innocent people or allowed the guilty to escape justice. So why reward them with a bigger budget and more responsibility? The DPS crime lab in McAllen had to be closed down because of grave problems with their DNA testing division, and the one in Lubbock gave faulty evidence that sent Brandon Moon, who was innocent, to prison for 18 years for a rape he didn't commit. There's just no reason to believe giving those same scientists $10,000 raises is going to solve the problem.

DPS crime labs face a significant backlog of cases that's slowing the system down, so there's no doubt more money is needed to process cases faster. But that won't solve the problem of scientists signing off on faulty forensic analysis that convicts innocent people. In fact, none of these budget boosting recommendations confront the reasons why that occurs.

As I've argued before, the real problem causing Texas' forensic foul ups stems from the state's failure to pay for defense experts to perform independent analysis on behalf of indigent clients. So when DPS impugns a suspect, even when they've accused an innocent person, there's just no means for indigent defendants to refute the faulty results.

I would like to see us have a Leave no Lab, behind law. Test them and make them pass very high standards, and when they fail shut them down. Let's export the lab work to a qualified lab even if it's overseas.

Sonia