Japan sarin incidents

We wonder if a chemical attack will first be unleashed in a school or a football stadium. Will most of the victims recover as in the sarin incident in Japan Or will thousands lie dead in the streets, as in the Kurdish villages of Iraq Will we be able to see the lethal cloud as it approaches or will it be invisible Will it sear our lungs, paralyze our muscles, eat into our flesh or create terrifying hallucinations Will death come quickly and painlessly or will we linger in agony How should we protect ourselves What are the chances of escape ... 

Nakajima, T., S. Sato, H. Morita, and N. Yanagisawa. 1997. Sarin poisoning of a rescue team in the Matsumoto sarin incident in Japan. Occup. Environ. Med. 54 697-701. 

The quantity of sarin made in October 1993 was 20gms 1 kg in November 1993 5 kg in December 1993 20 kg between February and March 1994. Anthony Tu, Chemistry and Toxicology of Nerve Gas Incidents in Japan in 1994 and 1995, paper presented at the Third Congress of Toxicology in Developing countries (1 September 1996), Cairo. 

The only reported incidents of nerve agent poisoning, where biomedical samples have been obtained, are those resulting from terrorist dissemination of sarin in Matsumoto (1994) and the Tokyo subway (1995), plus an assassination using VX, also in Japan (60). In contrast to the CW incidents involving sulfur mustard, many of the biomedical samples associated with these terrorist attacks were collected within hours of the event. 

Sadly, chemical warfare weapons are dangerous instruments of terror. Two recent episodes in which sarin was used by terrorists in Japan cast a cloud over attempts to control the use of these weapons. Sarin was released in a residential area of the city of Matsumoto on June 27, 1994, and in a crowded Tokyo subway less than a year later, on March 20, 1995. In Matsumoto, about 600 residents and rescuers were affected and seven died. More than 5500 people were poisoned and 12 died in the Tokyo incident. Many more might have perished if it were not for the quick action and bravery of firemen, police, and others and the availability of antidotes in Japanese hospitals. (Two subway attendants died removing containers of sarin from subway cars.)... 

Yokoyama et al. (1998) have evaluated the chronic neurobehavioral effects related to post-traumatic stress disorder induced by exposure to sarin in male and female patients in the Tokyo subway incident in 1995. Naka-jima et al. (1998) conducted an epidemiological stndy and discussed the muscarinic and nicotinic signs in the victims of sarin poisoning in Matsumoto City, Japan, in 1994. 

In the case of the release of the nerve agent sarin in the subway of Tokyo, Japan, on March 20,1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult responsible for the attack set up a dunrniy company to purchase the chemical precursors used in the production of the toxin. The facility where the sarin was synthesized escaped zoning and environmental authorities and was discovered only during the investigation of the incident. ... 

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