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WASHINGTON – Two letters sent to the Pentagon that were originally believed to contain the deadly poison, ricin, contained castor seeds, the source of the poison, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The Pentagon did not say whether the seeds were toxic or in what form the material had arrived. Castor seed is a medicinal plant.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which took custody of suspicious letters on Tuesday, performs additional tests.
The letters arrived Monday to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy's top admiral, a senior official said. On Tuesday, Pentagon officials said they contained suspected ricin.
The mail distribution center, which is located on the Pentagon property but is not connected to the main building, inspects each of the approximately 500,000 items arriving each year, officials said. The establishment performed a test on both envelopes, said a defense official, and determined that it could be ricin.
US Army Colonel Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that all mail received during the mail check is "currently in quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel".
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ricin is found naturally in castor beans and can be extracted to produce a powder, haze or lozenge containing concentrated poison. Accidental exposure to ricin is "highly unlikely," says the CDC, except by ingestion of castor beans.
"If it is turned into a partially purified material or a terrorist or war agent, ricin could be used to expose people through air, food or water," says the CDC.
Write to Nancy A. Youssef at [email protected]
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