Terrorist attacks in Japan

All three of the mass spectrometric methods described above were applied to casualties of terrorist attacks in Japan. It should be noted that in most cases the samples were collected within 24 h of the exposure, in contrast to cases of CW exposure to sulfur mustard. 

Sarin was involved in terrorist attacks in Japan (Okumura et al, 2003 Okudera, 2002). The increase in sympathetic and parasympathetic tone results in tachycardia, ST-segment modulation (Abraham et al, 2001), and arrhythmia. Inhibition of cholinesterase within the neuroeffector junction also affects nerve impulse transmission by direct action. Direct action on muscarinic or nicotinic ACh receptors (Somani et al, 1992) is observed when the blood level of sarin exceeds the micromolar level. Sarin inhibits RBC-AChE 80-100% as well as plasma-BChE between 30 and 50% (Grob and Harvey, 1958). It also binds to aliesterase, an enzyme that contributes to ester-link hydrolysis. 

Tu, A.T. (2000). Overview of sarin terrorist attacks in Japan. ACS Symposium Series 745 304-17. 

In more recent times, the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult used sarin in two terrorist attacks in Japan. At Matsumoto, in 1994, overall 600 individuals reported acute signs and symptoms, 58 were admitted to hospital and seven people died (Morita et al., 1995). Following the release of sarin on the Tokyo underground in 1995, approximately 1000 individuals exhibited signs and symptoms and twelve people died (Nagao et al., 1997 IoM, 2000) (see Chapter 13). Not only were substantial numbers of members of the public directly affected, but in both situations, first responders and medical staff were also exposed to sarin as they attended those exhibiting marked... 

Tu AT (2000). Overview of sarin terrorist attacks in Japan. In Natural and Selected Synthetic Toxins Biological Implications (AT Tut and W Graf-field, eds), ACS Symposium Series, Volume 745, pp. 304—317. Washington, DC, USA American Chemical Society. 

The challenge of security is at the forefront of everyone s attention today as it has been every day in the United States since the horrific event of September 11,2001. That terrible tragedy as well as the 2004 terrorist attacks in Beslan in Russia [3], the bombing of trains in Madrid [4] on March 11, 2004 and many other terrorist attacks in Japan, Indonesia, the Middle east, other parts of Europe and elsewhere have all driven home the fact that we are not adequately prepared to deal with new threats. But better preparation may surest a different kind of thinking or approach, not the traditional thinking from the past. This may be especially true for the profession of engineering. 

Subsequently, chemical warfare agents have been used in conflict notably during the Iran-Iraq war, and in terrorist attacks in Japan, both of which involved sarin, as well as tabun in the case of Iran-Iraq. Very recently, sarin was used in the Syrian conflict, on a relatively large scale, resulting in numerous casualties, particularly among civilians and including many children ." " ... 

In a civilian setting, such as the terrorist nerve agent attacks in Japan, a single exposure lasting from minutes to hours is the most realistic scenario. Consequently, for both civilian populations and the military, research on potential acute and delayed adverse health effects from low-level exposure to nerve agents should be of the highest priority-human performance should not be an important factor when considering civilian populations. A source of potentially valuable... 

Following the toxic attack in Japan in 1995, many countries around the world considered planning options in case further terrorist attacks should take place. In France, detailed planning (Plan Piratox) had been put in place in 1987 as a special modification of the red plan to deal with chemical releases (see Figure 7). 

In Japan, a number of years ago, a terrorist attack with sarin killed a dozen individuals confined to a subway car out of roughly a thousand people in the nearby vicinity. Sarin has little effect on the skin, due to rapid evaporation. It is true that the Iraqis killed many Kurds with nerve gas, but the victims were unprepared, had no training, no detection devices, no masks or other protection, no antidote and no practical way to avoid the gas. None of these vulnerabilities would be the case in a conflict with American troops. 

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. 

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