LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Officers who found the deadly poison ricin in a Las Vegas, Nevada, extended-stay hotel room also discovered firearms and an "anarchist-type textbook" with an entry about ricin bookmarked, police said Friday.
The deadly poison ricin and an "anarchist-type textbook" were found in a room in this Las Vegas hotel.
Two tests had confirmed the substance found was ricin, and that a man who was staying there has been hospitalized for more than two weeks and is in critical condition, police said Friday.
The 57-year-old man, whose name was not released, summoned authorities February 14 and asked to be transported to a hospital because of difficulty breathing, Kathy Suey, deputy chief of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters.
But police were not aware of the ricin's existence until Thursday, when a second man, who identified himself as a relative of the victim, went to the Extended Stay America room to clear the victim's possessions out and found the substance. That man brought the poison, which was in vials in a plastic bag, to the manager's office, and police were notified.
"He felt it was something that required police attention," said Las Vegas police Capt. Joe Lombardo. "He brought it to the management and said that 'I'm not comfortable with whatever this item is.'" Watch how ricin can be used to kill »
Lombardo said police first were called to the room on Tuesday after weapons were discovered there. He said officers discovered "general firearms," which have been impounded, and an "anarchist-type textbook" marked at an entry on ricin.
The room was tested for ricin at that time but none was found, Lombardo said. When officers returned Thursday, they found the ricin, but a test of the room showed it was not contaminated.
Ricin Poison made from castor beans
Can be inhaled, swallowed or injected
Prevents cells of a person's body making proteins, can cause death
No antidote
Used in cancer treatment and bone marrow transplants
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Although seven people were checked as a precaution Thursday, all have been released, Suey said, and none is showing signs of ricin exposure.
Suey said police do not know if the man staying in the room manufactured the ricin, as he has been unable to speak to investigators.
"We don't know an awful lot" about the victim, Suey said. "For the last 12 hours, our efforts have been on the containment and cleanup of the area and areas where there could have been exposure. ... We are now going forward with an investigation."
A report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center said the FBI considers the discovery "criminal in nature with no nexus to terrorism." The report was sent to law enforcement agencies and was obtained by CNN.
Two Las Vegas labs confirmed the substance is ricin, Suey said. However, the hotel room and other areas tested negative for the poison, police said in a statement issued by the Threat and Analysis Center.
Lombardo said a room at The Excalibur hotel was tested "as a precautionary measure" and found to be safe.
"At this point we feel extremely positive we have all the ricin involved and there is no terrorist threat," Lombardo said.
Pets were also in the hotel room, Suey said. Two of the animals were fine; the third, an ailing dog, was euthanized after having been without food and water in the room for a week, she said.
Ricin is a toxin extracted from castor beans. Several of the beans were also found in the room, Suey told reporters.
As little as 500 micrograms of ricin -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult in three to five days, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The poison can come in the form of a mist or a pellet and can be dissolved in water or weak acid, according to the CDC.
It has limited medical uses -- it can be used to kill cancer cells and destroy bone marrow cells.
The discovery of ricin typically alarms law enforcement agencies because authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspected extremists and ricin. But Lombardo agreed with the assessment that the discovery is not considered a terror incident "at this point."
He said ricin is not illegal to own, but is illegal if processed to be used for poisoning.
"This is a continuing investigation," he told reporters Friday. "We don't know if the guy manufactured the ricin or not. That's our concern."
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said although a small amount can kill somebody if injected, tons of the substance would be needed to make it a mass terrorism tool.
He said there are three ways someone might be exposed to ricin: inhalation, ingestion and injection. If it is inhaled, a person may develop fever, a cough, nausea, fluid in the lungs and organ failure. There is no specific test for exposure and no antidote once exposed, Gupta said. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
All About Poisoning • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The chemical structure of ricin
On February 14, a man staying at the Valley View Extended Stay America hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada was hospitalized after experiencing respiratory distress. The man lapsed into unconsciousness and has been at the hospital ever since.

Since the bills at the hotel were going unpaid, Extended Stay America began to evict the man from the room. Another man, described as either a friend or relative, went to the hotel on Thursday to collect the personal belongings of the hospitalized man.

According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief Kathy Suey, he found several vials of a white substance. He brought them to the attention of the hotel manager, who called police.

Initial tests, which further tests confirmed on Friday, the substance was the deadly toxin ricin, an extremely dangerous biological agent. Ricin is extracted from castor beans through the waste produced in the manufacture of castor oil. It is currently being used in cancer treatment research. There has been research for its use as a chemical/biological warfare agent. An amount smaller than the point of a pin will kill a human being. It is estimated to be several thousand times more toxic than cyanide and there is no known antidote.

Police cordoned off the area around Valley View between Flamingo Road and Harmon Avenue. Three employees and the man who made the discovery were taken to the hospital as a precaution. So were three police officers. They are all reported to show no signs of poisoning.

Nevada National Guard and other emergency services responded to secure the area. Residents at the Extended Stay America were allowed back into the building late Thursday. The hotel reopened fully on Friday after the room and other areas of the hotel were decontaminated.
Castor beans
The man whose room it was "is in critical condition and he is unable to speak with us right now. We have no indication why the ricin was in that room," said Deputy Chief Suey.

"Usually, if ricin victims survive the first three to five days, they usually do fine," Dr. Lawrence Sands told CNN. However, survivors often have long-term organ damage.

At least three pets were found in the room. "Two of those pets are fine. One of the pets is deceased or was put down," Suey said. "The dog that was in there was without food and water for a week," she added that there was no reason to supect it was exposed to ricin. Castor beans were also found in the room.

Officials have also recovered from the room a firearm, as well as an "anarchist" text containing an article on ricin.

Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Richard Kolko said the incident is being treated as a criminal matter and did not appear to be related to terrorism "based on the information gathered so far."

Captain Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said that ricin is not illegal to own unless it is intended for the poisoning of a person, adding that "We did have enough ricin to be of concern."

In 2003, a man committed suicide in Las Vegas using ricin. There have also been a few incidents where ricin powder was found in the mail. Also in 2003, the United Kingdom had the Wood Green ricin plot which in the end found no ricin.

In 1978, Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was famously assassinated in London with ricin injected with the tip of an umbrella.