Comments on: Killer Beans?

By: zamia2

zamia2 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:11:41 +0000

Dave, it really bothers me that you misuse the term “bean” here. Clearly you are trying to refer to true beans, known as legumes, because you refer to legumes as ‘real killers’ and that is what your story is supposed to be about. However, the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis [from which the name 'ricin' comes from] is not a bean at all ! - it is a ’spurge’ or ‘euphorb’ in the family Euphorbiaceae, the same family the Poinsettia is in. Many, many members of this well-known plant family are poisonous. They have nothing to do with flatulence, a feature of some true edible beans or legumes in the bean family, Fabaceae - unrelated to this one and unrelated to the castor bean. There ARE poisonous beans, such as Abrus precatorius and others that can kill you, but the ‘castor oil bean’ is not one of them - it is no bean at all ! it is simply a seed from a 3-lobed capsule and your article is very misleading and shows a tremendous lack of botanical understanding. I really wish that authors would pay or consult botanists to edit their texts, or have botanist write these articles, or else be certain of their research before it appears on sites like this ! Sorry ! Another sign of poor education in our society and lack of editing control.

By: Dave Mosher

Dave Mosher — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:01:48 +0000

I remember this, and I believe there was another and similar case several years after this. At any rate, I find ricin to be frighteningly potent and accessible.
Thanks for the note!

By: Twisted_Sister

Twisted_Sister — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:47:17 +0000

There was a tragic case about ten years ago here in the Kansas City area of a couple (two doctors) and their children who became tragic victims at the hands of the female half of the couple. She is in prison now for poisoning her husband with ricin in his food. She set fire to their home and all but one of the children died in the fire. The husband and one daughter survive but he had to have all sorts of surgery including brain surgery and it was said that he can never know for the rest of his life when he might have complications from the poisoning. The poisoning took place over a period of time. He was in the hospital deathly ill and not expected to survive when he began to get better, went home with his wife, who that same day poisoned him again. He was VERY VERY VERY SICK and suffered terribly with uncontrollable diarhea and projectile vomiting. What kind of sick person could do that I cannot figure out.