February 2008

Ricin Woes

Okay, we have a war on drugs, that is highly ineffective.

We had a war on Screwworm which we won.

We now have idiots messing with ricin in public places.

As far as I can tell, Castor Oil, the only "useful" thing the Castor bean plant exudes, has little use that there isn't already a substitute for. Medicinally, it was just used to see if a child was really sick, or faking it. (A well child would never let that s**t be put in his mouth.) Why don't we just eradicate the Castor bean in the United states? This ricin crap has several bad things about it...

1. It is much more toxic and deadly than DDT, Dioxin, Mercury, or Plutonium, and is on a par with Polonium 210!

2. It has an extremely long half-life in the environment and is not broken down by Eukaryote biological process. On the contrary, it stops animal cells cold in their tracks.

3. In South Pasadena, where I spent the first 13 years of my life, Castor Bean plants were growing wild, and killing the occasional pet or kid, with nary a second look.

I could probably make several more points, but the point of this entry is, WHY DON'T WE ERADICATE and ILLEGALIZE this nasty, easy to spot, easy to kill, rotten plant? It's not like marijuana or coca, in that nothing pleasant comes from it, so no one will rush to save it. Environmentalist wackos shouldn't give a damn about it, as it's not native to North America, and fills no ecological niche. I personally, opinion here, don't even find it decorative as some terminally bent people do. (Even a Russian Thistle is beautiful compared to it, although when mature, they look like triffids!

So get a clue people, this vile pest amongst us has outlived any usefulness, and now presents itself as a deadly threat in a time of psychos and terrorism.

Zap!