September 14, 2016.
Ricin is an extremely toxic poison. Until now, no effective antidote had been found and the situation was becoming worrying with the high level of the terrorist threat.
Poisoning that leads to death
The Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute and Inserm have carried out joint work, funded by the Directorate General for Armaments (DGA), to find an antidote to ricin. 6,000 times more toxic than cyanide and 12,000 times more than rattlesnake venom, ricin is a poison much feared by the authorities in these times of terrorist threat.
Of particular concern is that the toxicity of ricin is even more formidable when it is dispersed in the atmosphere and inhaled. ” The first symptoms are a cough, lung irritation followed by massive edema », Explains Nathalie Heuzé-Vourc’h, researcher at Inserm. ” And depending on the dose, this acute respiratory distress syndrome can lead to the death of the subject who inhaled the ricin. “.
Army constraints
The Ministry of Defense did not wait for France to undergo several terrorist attacks to launch the research. Researchers had been working on this device for more than three years.. Finally, they succeeded in developing an aerosol capable of depositing an antidote against ricin deep in the lungs. ” The device had to meet the constraints of the army », Said Laurent Vecellio, Scientific Director DTF Medical. “For example, the device had to be able to operate when the soldier is lying down.”
The prototype was tested on monkeys and it worked perfectly well. New experiments will be needed to find out if the antidote will be as effective in humans. A step that will be complicated to take as the use of ricin is controlled in France.
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