Sarin

Sarin, nerve agent used in chemical warfare; its chemical name is isopropyl methyl phosphonofluoridate (CH₃P(O)(F)OCH(CH₃)₂. A colourless, non-persistent liquid that gives off no odour when vaporizing, sarin is a highly toxic compound in both its liquid and vapour state that attacks the central nervous system, causing death minutes after exposure. The relative rate of action is very rapid—within minutes. Its persistency is low, and it dissipates quickly; it can be made more persistent through the addition of certain oils or petroleum products. Delivery systems include ballistic and cruise missiles (see Guided Missiles), crude canisters, aircraft-delivered bombs, artillery shells, and land mines. The organophosphate nerve agents tabun, sarin, soman, and cyclosarin are among the most toxic chemical warfare agents known.

Sarin was developed in Nazi Germany in 1938 (see Third Reich). Its name is derived from the names of its inventors: Schrader, Ambrose, Rüdiger, and van der Linde. NATO adopted it as a standard chemical warfare agent in the early 1950s. Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and possibly Libya hold stocks of sarin. Iraq used it in the Iran-Iraq War, and had large stocks available during the Gulf War. It has been used, in the only known terrorist acts involving a chemical weapon, by the Japanese Aum Shinri Kyo religious sect in Matsumoto in 1994, killing 7 people, and on the Tokyo underground in 1995, killing 12 and injuring 5,500.

Like other nerve agents, sarin kills by attacking the body’s voluntary muscle and gland “triggers”, paralysing muscles so that they can no longer sustain breathing. It enters the body by inhalation, ingestion, and through the eyes and skin. Symptoms begin with watery eyes, drooling, and excessive sweating, and then rapidly progress to difficulty in breathing, dimness of vision, nausea, vomiting, twitching, and headache. Ultimately the victim will become comatose and suffocate as a consequence of convulsive spasms. Immediate treatment is decontamination by removing clothing and flushing eyes and skin with water.