Fast Ricin Detection – Is it Now Possible?
Ricin, a poison found in Castor beans is so potent that even if a small quantity, the size of a grain of salt, gets into your system can kill you. Now, if new research is to be believed, then scientists may have developed a new assay system that detects ricin fast and easy. Perhaps the most popular incident of ricin poisoning is the 1978 assassination of the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London. He was reportedly stabbed with an umbrella that lodged a small ricin-coated pellet into his leg that later killed him. With no known antidote available, ricin today, is also feared as a potential bioterrorism agent. Till now, scientists had a hard time detecting the toxin. Because it involved multi-step procedures that assessed whether certain compounds were stopping ricin from working or not. But now that may not be necessary. The New Ricin Detection Assay System The working of the assay is simple. To check the presence of ricin in suspect samples, they need to be put into a few drops o
