Mailing Caster bean seeds....

We received a talk last at work about ricin being discovered in the mail in South Carolina. For anyone that doesn't know... ricin is made from the castor bean plant. It's a deadly poison and the seeds will test positive for ricin.

If you plan to trade Castor bean seeds it's a good idea to make sure you package them well... with lots of padding. A bubble mailer is best. Be sure to mark your seed package what they are.... Castor Bean seeds. They are easily crushed.... I've recieved crushed ones myself, last year during the trading season. The poison they found was in a metal container with a threatening note... obviously not seeds but it's better to be safe then sorry.

This is the article from the USPS website...

uspsnewsbreakpm

Oct. 22, 2003 6:30 p.m.

Greenville, SC, AMF closed for tests after
poison ricin found in small, sealed container

A suspicious envelope discovered by an employee processing mail at the
Greenville, SC, Airport Mail Facility (AMF) was later found to contain a
small sealed metal container with the poison ricin inside.

As a precautionary measure, the AMF was closed so it can be tested for
the presence of the toxic chemical. When the envelope was found last
Wednesday, the supervisor on duty took immediate action to isolate the
item from the mailstream and notified county officials and the FBI.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested the
envelope's contents and found that it contained ricin (pronounced
RICE-in). Additional testing is being done to make absolutely sure about
the container's contents.

The CDC said there are no indications of employee exposure or adverse
health effects as a result of the incident. The Department of Homeland
Security said it doesn't believe the incident is an act of terrorism.
The department noted that the sealed envelope contained a threatening
note and said the FBI and the Inspection Service - along with other
federal, state and local law enforcement officials on the FBI's Joint
Terrorism Task Force - are cooperating to determine the source of the
ricin.

USPS sent a nationwide message to all employees today alerting them to
the incident and asking them to remain alert for suspicious letters or
packages.

Good reading,you know me Poppysue,I have a ton to ship out,better check with my postman, to see if they have a stamp or something they can put on.I would hate to be the cause of some alarm going off somewhere!

Root, I think normal and responsible seed trading practices are fine. The ones I recieved were just tossed loose into a white envelope - with no padding, no label or anything. The envelope went through a machine and all the seeds were crushed. The seeds have an oil inside... and the envelope was stained with the oil. With all the mail scares nowwa days... the stains would be an automatic red flag to a mail sorter and look suspicious. I'm sure the seeds would have been unidentifiable to a postal inspector if it had been inspected.

Now that I have my heart back in my chest!!!!!! I have sent out many a trades of Castor Bean seeds!
In fact I have sent them to SC just here in the last month or so.
BUT I always padd my seeds with plenty of bubble wrap.
Hope and Pray it wasn't my seed trade that caused this mess!
I wouldn't be able to live with my self and would probably never trade seeds again!
That is scarey!

Thanks for posting this.. So many people still do not get the importance of bubble wrapping seeds.. Lately I have received seeds with little or no bubble wrap, (crushed to a pulp).. It's so simple to use the padded envelopes..I just wish all could grasp that little info, LOL..
Larkie

The best thing to do for seeds that are of good size or can be crushed easily is to send them in the bubble envelope. You can purchase these at WalMart or any office supply.
Wrapping seeds carefully in some bubble wrap and putting them in a regular size envelope does no good. The regular envelopes get put through the sorter and the bubble wrap is flattened along with the seeds. I know as I got some last week.

be sure to mark the seedspacks-- poision-- when packing them!
so that your trader is aware that they are posionous.
Not on the envelope -or panic could break out! ;)

I write HAND CANCEL on the envelopes!

Dori,
To write Hand cancel doesn't work most places..A certain size and thickness and it goes thru the machine.. My postmaster will do it for me if not busy, but then the next stop always gets them for sure.. The sorting machines cannot see the "hand cancel"..
Larkie