Bridging the Gap Episode 1: Bioterrorism and Ricin

Bridging the Gap Episode 1: Bioterrorism and Ricin

SummitET Subject Matter Experts interpret the emerging threat discussed in the following article. 

Ricin’s Round Two: Germany Prevents Another Islamic State-Motivated Bioterrorism Attack” by Herbert Maack

Terrorism Monitor, Volume: 21 Issue: 5, March 10, 2023

biological threat mitigation

According to Herbert Maack’s Terrorism Monitor article “Ricin’s Round Two: Germany Prevents Another Islamic State-Motivated Bioterrorism Attack,” Germany has experienced multiple ricin bomb threats in the last five years. A terrorist plot in 2018 had the capability to kill over 13,000 people but was disrupted thanks to U.S. intelligence passed to German law enforcement. This past January, German officials faced another possible ricin chemical attack. According to the media, the 2023 attack was postponed by the terrorists due to their lack of a critical toxic substance, and officials were able to intercept the suspects before loss of life occurred.

What is Ricin?

Ricin is a naturally occurring toxic substance that was discovered in 1888 by German scientist Peter Herman Steelmark. It is extracted from castor beans or from the waste materials generated during the production of castor oil, and its final form can be a white powder, mist, or pellet. Castor oil has many medicinal, industrial, and pharmaceutical uses. It’s commonly used as an additive in foods, medications, and skin care products, as well as an industrial lubricant and biodiesel fuel component. Poisoning by the ingestion of castor beans themselves is rare, as they have a hard coat which prevents the release of the ricin toxin.

castor beans

Toxicity and Biological Threat

Ricin is very toxic and is a bad actor when it comes to eukaryotic cells or mammals like us, because it affects all cells. Essentially, it’s two proteins that are linked together. There’s an action chain and the AB chain, or binding chain. They’re linked together with a bond known as a Type 2 ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP). What does that mean? It means it will prevent the body’s cells from making necessary proteins. It’s a poison that impacts the structure, function, and regulation of cells it interacts with making it an incredibly lethal mechanism of killing and damaging cells when inhaled or ingested. Though it may not be all bad, scientists are actively researching ricin as a cancer therapeutic to find a way to target cancer cells with ricin.

 

Historical Threat

Historically, ricin has been used much more as an assassination tool or poison rather than in terrorist attacks on large groups of people. The most famous assassination was in 1978 in London, where a Bulgarian dissident was waiting at a bus stop when he felt a pain in his leg where he noticed someone had bumped him with the tip of an umbrella. Later that night he developed a fever and irritation at the site of the injury but wasn’t aware yet of its severity. His symptoms worsened and he died at the hospital three days later. During his autopsy they found a tiny pellet that had been injected into his leg via the umbrella. The pellet was hollow and medical experts believed that it was filled with ricin.

While ricin is not a typical biological WMD that first responders face, in the early 2000s there were a number of reported incidences of white powder threats, believed to be ricin, and it does continue to be a problem. You see it on the first responder side from HAZMAT technicians for various ideations of terrorism, criminals, state sponsored programs. So, while not common, ricin as a biological weapon is definitely a threat, and it is deadly.

 

Symptoms and Treatment

Some initial symptoms from ricin exposure include progressive shortness of breath, irritation at the entry site, possible nausea, or vomiting. Symptoms may occur as early as 3 to 4 hours and will rapidly progress over 12 to 24 hours. The rapid progression of symptoms is what differentiates ricin poisoning from other common illnesses (colds, foodborne illness) that have similar initial ailments.

Recognizing this timeline is very important for responders, and they must coordinate and communicate well with law enforcement and confirmatory labs.

There is no antidote to ricin poisoning. If exposed, seeking medical attention immediately is paramount, as there may be measures taken to try to remove the ricin from the body or provide supportive care. Death can occur within 36 to 72 hours depending on the level and type of exposure.

A significant challenge to treating ricin poisoning is being able to quickly identify whether you’ve been exposed or not. There may be a 12 to 24 hour period before you realize you’ve been exposed and that’s where the real damage comes in. Some testing does exist at a medical facilities if they suspect ricin, but the level of uncertainty is typically high. The exposure to an unknown toxin with some vague symptoms creates a real problem for medical treatment.

 

Response

Mass panic is a big concern with any type of CBRNE event. With ricin and other deadly toxins, the greater concern is loss of life. It’s important for agencies and government responders to train for bio-terrorism threats like ricin. The U.S. military does train civil support teams; Marine and Army CBRNE defense routinely train for chemical and biological toxins. These are some of the considerations when responding to a ricin terror threat:

 

Protective Equipment

Responders should consider the use of personal protective equipment such as respirators, suits, gloves, and eye protection. Because ricin is a toxin derived from a living organism, detection is more challenging than other chemicals.

Decontamination

Anyone going into the hot zone for identification, sampling, and monitoring needs to be decontaminated  on the way out.

Communications

Strategic communications teams are responsible for keeping the public informed to help mitigate panic.

Intelligence

Typically, tips from the public is what brings in the most intel, i.e. see something, say something. Tripwires, as the FBI calls them, are also common. An example of this is where companies that sell castor beans report suspicious purchases to authorities.

Field Testing

The difficulty in detecting the presence of ricin means that field testing is not as reliable as confirmatory testing. Field testing often results in more false positives and you have only a 12 hour period to take and send samples to testing.

Exposure

Meanwhile, you need to categorize people into definitely exposed, likely exposed, maybe exposed, or definitely not exposed. Some may need monitoring and some of the symptoms that you may observe in the initial hours could be related to the psychological component of threat exposure. It is critical for responders to be educated in the realities of ricin exposure and to understand the psychological component for the exposed individuals and their family, because there are limited treatment options.

Exercises and Training

Exercising and training this type of scenario will help to prepare response agencies, local government, or state government has for this type of event. It allows agencies to understand current knowledge, strengthen information sharing pathways, and build a cross agency plan. Consistent training will help to validate that plan to then refine it as threats emerge and evolve.

Preparedness experts like those at SummitET can assist in the process to review your plans, identify any gaps, help you revise the plan, and then exercise it. Tabletop exercises are typically done first with all agency participants in one meeting space. This includes people from Hazmat, fire, law enforcement, and the medical community. The action at the site makes all the difference in terms of limiting some of the concerns and understanding what type of decontamination and protective equipment that you need.

Knowledge is power in preparing for biological exposures and providing confidence on-site. There is no such thing as overkill in preparedness, because there’s no safe level of horizon, and preparedness is not an accident.

 

Contributors:

Andrew Manson Law Enforcement and CBRNE Subject matter expert

Andrew Manson

Law Enforcement SME and prior program manager for the FBI’s domestic WMD response

Kevin Quigley, CBRN and WMD Subject Matter Expert at SummitET

Kevin Quigley

All Hazards SME and retired U.S. Marine Corps Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) defense officer

William "Jeff" Skinner, M.D.

Jeff Skinner, M.D.

Radiation Oncologist and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) SME

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Summit Exercises and Training LLC (SummitET®) experts will be presenting at the 33rd annual National Radiological Emergency Preparedness Conference (NREP) in Indianapolis, Indiana from April 3 to 6, 2023. 

The mission of NREP is “to provide a professional forum for individuals involved with the Offsite Radiological Emergency Preparedness programs to gather in the spirit of continuous self-improvement to share program experiences, develop solutions to common challenges, and create innovative planning, exercising, and training methodologies.”

SummitET offers multi-agency radiological preparedness exercises, trainings, and workshops for emergency planners and field personnel, led by our team of Strategic Communications experts, Certified Health Physicists, and Radiation Safety experts.

Join our expert session during the 2023 NREP Conference:

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Authored By: Mark Basnight, Holly Hardin, Angela Leek and Steve Sugarman

Unprepared radiation spokespersons increase the risk to their organization’s brand and credibility as well as their personal reputation as effective leaders. They need to be prepared to comment on a wide range of topics and to provide clarifications of untrue statements. Whether your agency needs to share information regarding a news event, has an internal story to tell or is trying to publicize a new product or service, radiation spokesperson training can be helpful in getting your story out. Using interactive and participatory methods, senior leaders and radiation spokespersons will engage in practice to enhance development of stakeholder maps, key messages, talking points, and strategies for engaging multiple audiences using science-based methods and industry best practices.

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SummitET Welcomes Former Chief of Military Medical Operations at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Dr. Jeff Skinner

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Summit Exercises and Training LLC (SummitET®), a Preparedness Solutions Company®, announces the addition of William “Jeff” Skinner, M.D. as the company’s new Subject Matter Expert in Radiology Oncology and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE). A retired United States Air Force Colonel and former combat flight surgeon, Dr. Skinner will provide clinically-oriented CBRNE support to existing contracts within SummitET’s client portfolio, as well as continuing his translational research and real-world modeling efforts to improve the response to and preparedness for radiological/nuclear events.

“We must continue to study the impact of radiation mitigation and prophylaxis on the hematopoietic, gastrointestinal, immune system as well as delayed health effects from radiation exposure and contamination. I’m interested in improving data integration, decision-making, and risk assessment/management to improve outcomes and drive outcome-oriented research efforts,” said Dr. Skinner. 

Dr. Skinner is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, attended the University of Virginia for medical school and completed a residency in radiation oncology at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. He has served as a combat flight surgeon in Iraq and retired from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he was the Program Director for the Radiation Oncology Residency Program, Chief of Military Medical Operations at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, and was a Principal Investigator on numerous clinical and translational research projects. Awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership in nuclear survivability and medical treatment, Dr. Skinner has led advanced modeling efforts involving radiation, blast, and thermal effects and has investigated the impact of biocomplexity and logistics on optimal management of causalities.  

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William "Jeff" Skinner, M.D.
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“The state and local radiation control programs are vital to radiation protection and radiation emergency response efforts across the nation, and I look forward to leveraging my experiences and working with my colleagues to find solutions to support their programs,” said Angela Leek.

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Angela recently served as the Chairperson for the Conference for Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), Iowa’s governor-appointed state liaison officer to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Iowa’s voting member for the Organization of Agreement States. Angela is also a Board Director member of the Health Physics Society.

“Angela brings over twenty-five years of knowledge and experience in the radiation field with support to over one hundred trainings and presentations on radiation protection, regulatory program perspectives, and emergency response,” stated John Duda, CEO of SummitET. “We are honored to welcome her to our team.”

 

Angela Leek, Director of Radiological Solutions and Regulatory Affairs
Angela Leek, Director of Radiological Solutions and Regulatory Affairs

Angela Leek

Director of Radiological Solutions and Regulatory Affairs

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