Vaccine Against Ricin to Be Tested

WASHINGTON -- Texas researchers will begin clinical trials of an experimental vaccine against the deadly toxin ricin, a biological agent that can be tested only in select labs.

The Food and Drug Administration gave approval to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center on Tuesday for the safety trial in humans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as little as 500 micrograms of ricin, roughly the amount that fits on the head of a pin, is enough to kill an adult. Lethal doses depend on how the poison is delivered -- powder, mist, pellet or dissolved in water. The poison can be made from waste left over from processing castor beans.

Because castor beans are easy to obtain, and the poison remains potent despite exposure to temperature extremes, government officials worry that it could become a tool of terrorists.

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-ricin-vaccine,0,231454.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

Vaccines are made to prevent diseases from living organisms, not poisons. Here's a link for the definition for vaccine:

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=vaccine

So what the heck is this all about? I will try to find out what they're talking about.

Cindy

But I think they are calling it a 'vaccine' because it seems to stimulate an immuno-response to ricin, even though ricin is not a disease:

The Texas researchers will test the safety of a genetically engineered protein vaccine, RiVax, developed by a team at UT Southwestern led by Dr. Ellen Vitetta.

Vitetta said the clinical trial will test give the vaccine in different amounts to up to 15 volunteers. Antibodies to ricin built up in their bodies will be administered to mice, which subsequently be exposed to 10 times the lethal dose of ricin. That is the so-called challenge phase of the procedure.

"They're going to be heavy-duty challenged," said Vitetta, director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at UT Southwestern. "We can tell if (the antibodies) neutralize ricin in a test tube, but we also want to show they protect a mouse."

It sounds like it's a genetically modified protein that stimulates production of this 'anti-ricin' antibody.

Wonder what it does when it runs out of ricin to deal with? Hope they've thought about that (in the past, I would have been more sure they had).

They are usually the guinea pigs for this shit. I wonder how may of them have to murder thier spouses before they figure out the side effects outweigh the risks of this form of attack?

Here's the press release: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041130005523&newsLang=en

I guess the definition of vaccine has changed since Webster was updated?

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig's son, also named Alexander Haig, is the Chairman of the Board of the company; his father was formerly.

I don't like all this fusion of politics and biotech--it's weird--and if terrorism becomes profitable, the implications are sinister. I don't mean to suggest that the Haigs would promote terrorism, but this vaccine industry doesn't bode well to me generally.