Senators Express Concern for Poisons Found in Capitol and Wallingford
By Brian Dolan
WASHINGTON — A poisonous white powder found in a Senate office building Monday forced Connecticut’s senators and their colleagues to relocate Tuesday as they recalled the chilling anthrax poisonings that followed the September 11 t terrorist attacks.
Authorities found the powder, which tests confirmed was ricin, in a mail-sorting area next to a stack of opened letters. Officials were investigating whether the substance went through the mail system or entered the building another way.
No one exposed to the substance showed any signs of illness Tuesday, officials said. Symptoms, including fevers, vomiting, diarrhea and respiratory problems, generally occur within eight hours, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a surgeon, said at a press conference.
Ricin, which prohibits cells from making proteins and eventually leads to death, is most powerful when injected, said Dr. Charles McKay, associate medical director of the Connecticut Poison Control Center .
Unlike anthrax, an infectious agent that multiplies and becomes active within the body, ricin cannot multiply, McKay said. For that reason, he said, it is “not very effective” as a large scale bio-terror weapon.
Senator Christopher Dodd, (D-Conn.), expressed deep concern over the ricin found in the mailroom in Frist’s office. “Anyone-be they terrorists or criminals-who would use these types of toxins as weapons needs to be dealt with in the harshest fashion and swiftly brought to justice,” Dodd said in a statement. “I’m just hopeful that no one is ultimately harmed by this attack.”
Senator Joseph Lieberman, (D-Conn.), who was campaigning for president in Delaware and Virginia Tuesday, expressed concern for those in the Dirksen Senate Office Building who were exposed to the poison.
“The health and law enforcement officials on the scene have my full support as they work to decontaminate the area and trace the source of this deadly substance,” Lieberman said in a statement. “We must get to the bottom of this so that the Senate can focus on the people’s business.”
Dodd also stated he hoped the substance found early Tuesday at a postal distribution center in Wallingford turned out to be harmless. “Sadly, our state previously had to deal with tragic consequences from anthrax attacks,” Dodd said, referring to the death from anthrax poisoning of a 94-year-old Oxford woman in late 2001. “My thoughts and prayers are with the workers [in Wallingford ] as they deal with these anxious moments.”
Lieberman’s staff members had to work from their homes Tuesday even though their offices are not located in the Dirskson building. “This wasn’t a big disruption for us,” spokesman Matt Gobush said. “We were expecting a big ice storm for the area and I packed up plenty of work yesterday in anticipation of working from home today.”
