The Clipboard: Ricin: A Trace of Hysteria

From an article¹:

What do we actually know? 1) Six men have been arrested who, according to the police, 'may or may not' have links to terrorist organisations. 2) A trace of ricin was found at their flat, but no quantity of the poison has been discovered. 3) Er, that's it. (link)

This article debunks media hype surrounding the latest terrorist scare.

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Complete text of the article, Ricin: A Trace of Hysteria, from Spiked

Panic: 'IT'S HERE' declares the front page of today's UK Mirror, as anti-terror police claim to have found traces of the lethal poison ricin in a flat in Wood Green, north London. Six north African men were arrested on 7 January 2003 after their flat was raided and police discovered 'material' that tested positive for 'ricin traces'. Scary headlines quickly followed: 'Factory of death' said the Sun, claiming that the 'shabby flat was used to make poison' which could 'theoretically kill thousands of people'. 'One gram can kill 36,000' said the Mirror, pointing out that ricin is '500 times stronger than cobra venom'. According to one report, 'The [ricin] discovery is evidence that the al-Qaeda network is ready and willing to attack UK targets'.

Don't panic: What do we actually know? 1) Six men have been arrested who, according to the police, 'may or may not' have links to terrorist organisations. 2) A trace of ricin was found at their flat, but no quantity of the poison has been discovered. 3) Er, that's it. Yet now we're being told that an 'al-Qaeda poison gang may be on the loose', that 'terrorists are targeting VIPs for assassination', and that 'terror has arrived in the UK'. The London Evening Standard finished its report on the ricin trace by talking up other potential attacks, including the possibility that al-Qaeda might detonate a 'nuclear backpack' at Big Ben. How did we get from a poison trace in Wood Green to a nuclear bomb in Westminster? It looks like panic spreads faster than any lethal poison (particularly ricin, which, as one report points out, 'dissipates in air' and is only effective if injected directly into an individual - making the Mirror's 36,000 deaths an arduous task even for the most dedicated terrorist). 'The primary aim of these [terrorists] is to cause fear', said a British military expert last night. Right now, we seem to be doing a good job of that ourselves.

reference=http://www.spiked-online.com/Sections/Central/Panic/Index.htm