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Everything you need to know about ricin poison

Ricin is much easier to produce than other popular biological weapons like botulinum, sarin, and anthrax, but it is not as potent as any of those, which limits its effectiveness as a weapon. It also is not very long-lived; the protein can age and become inactive fairly quickly compared to, say, anthrax, which can remain dangerous for decades. There were experiments back around World War I attempting to make wide-scale ricin weapons, packaging it into bombs and coating bullets in it, but these proved not particularly effective and also violate the Hague Convention’s agreements on war crimes, so the U.S. discarded ricin.

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 From beans to weapon: The discovery of ricin

Ricin is a naturally occurring protein that is part of the leftover "waste mash" created when beans from the castor plant (Ricinus communis) are processed to make castor oil. Exposure occurs if the bean seeds are eaten; otherwise, exposure must be deliberate. The substance can be made into a powder, mist, or pellet as a biological agent for warfare, exposing people through food, water, or air. There is no antidote.

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Breaking Bad - Ricin Beans

Ricin poisoning is not easy to detect, but it is not necessarily fatal, even though it is unlikely medical staff would identify the underlying cause. Death usually occurs 36-48 hours after exposure, but if a victim survives a few days, he has a good chance of recovering (though he will almost certainly have permanent organ damage).

Poisoning for Dummies

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Ricin: An Ancient Story for a Timeless Plant Toxin

Although ricin is not toxic enough to hypothesize a use over a wide area for terrorist purposes, the availability of castor beans and the quite simple procedure for rough ricin purification have stimulated the interest of criminals and terrorists for small-scale biocrimes.

The Threat and Control of Ricin as a Weapon

The potential of ricin as a weapon of war has been evaluated since early in the twentieth century and perhaps before. During World War II, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom produced hundreds of kilograms of ricin that were loaded into various munitions, while the Japanese tested the effect of castor bean ingestion on prisoners of war.

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It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people. Unintentional exposure to ricin is highly unlikely, except through the ingestion of castor beans.