Sarin: the deadly history of the nerve agent used in Syria

The UN has confirmed that the chemical used in Damascus last month was sarin – a lethal poison with no taste, no smell and no colour. Which makes it one of the most murderous weapons in modern warfareNow we know. On the morning of 21 August, as the air above Damascus cooled, rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin fell on rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital and left scores of men, women and children dead or injured. UN inspectors had been in the country for three days, on a mission to investigate allegations of earlier atrocities. They quickly changed tack. They brokered a temporary ceasefire with the regime and the rebels and made straight for Ghouta. Video reports from the area showed hospital staff overwhelmed and desperate.Never before had UN inspectors worked under such pressure and in the midst of a war zone. The small team, headed by the Swedish chemical weapons expert Ã…ke Sellström, was threatened with harm. Their convoy was shot at. But their 41-page report was completed in record time.Sarin was that breed of accident that scientists come to regret. Its inventors worked on insecticides made from organophosphate compounds at the notorious IG Farben chemical company in Nazi Germany. In 1938, they hit on substance 146, a formula that caused massive disruption to the nervous system. The chemical name was isopropyl methylfluorophosphate, but the company renamed it sarin to honour the chemists behind the discovery – Schrader, Ambros, Ritter and Van der Linde â...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: The Guardian Middle East and North Africa Chemical weapons World news Human biology United Nations Technology Neuroscience Features Syria Weapons technology Chemistry Source Type: news