Two people were hospitalized after being exposed to a “white powdery substance” found at Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) office in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 2.
It comes minutes after packages that were suspected to contain ricin, a poison made from castor beans, were detected in a mail room at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., according to reports.
A HAZMAT truck and several fire trucks were on the scene after the letter was opened, according to the publication.
As of 1:08 p.m. ET, the
Houston Fire Department said on Twitter that “two people were taken to the hospital after apparently being exposed to a white powdery substance in an office building.”
It later added at around 1:45 p.m. ET that an “evacuation order has been lifted for the office building at 3200 SW Fwy.”
Fire officials also said that “all tests were negative for any hazardous substance.”
In Washington D.C., the packages set off alarms as they were being screened in an off-site security mail processing center.
“On Monday, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency detected a suspicious substance during mail screening at the Pentagon’s remote screening facility,” Col. Rob Manning said in a statement, according to
Fox News. “All USPS mail received at the Pentagon mail screening facility yesterday is currently under quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel.”
The FBI is now doing an analysis of the mail.
The two packages were sent to U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis as well as the Navy’s top officer, Admiral John Richardson, according to the Fox News report, which cited a Pentagon spokesperson.
CNN also reported that the ricin-containing packages were sent to the same two officials.
Ricin “can be in the form of a powder, a mist, or a pellet, or it can be dissolved in water or weak acid,” says the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website. The agency adds that when “made into a partially purified material or refined into a terrorist or warfare agent, ricin could be used to expose people through the air, food, or water.”
