Tokyo subway

Discovered in the late 1930s in Germany as improved poisonous insecticides, organophosphorus ChEIs were developed as chemical warfare agents (e.g. sarin, soman, and tabun) and were more recently employed in the 1995 terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway system [5]. 

Recently, Noort et al developed a procedure that is based on straightforward isolation of adducted BuChE from plasma by means of affinity chromatography with a procainamide column, followed by pepsin digestion and LC/electrospray tandem MS analysis of a specific nonapeptide containing the phosphonylated active site serine-198 residue (5). This method surpasses the limitations of the fluoride-reactivation method, since it can also deal with dealkylated ( aged ) phosphonylated BuChE. The method allowed the positive analysis of several serum samples of Japanese victims of the terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995. Furthermore, the method could be applied for detection of ChE modifications induced by, e.g., diethyl paraoxon and pyridostigmine bromide, illustrating the broad scope of this approach. This new approach... 

Despite significant interest in unconventional weapons, there have been few instances of widespread death or incapacitation due to CBRN use by terrorists, and the number of casualties pales in comparison to those killed by more conventional explosives, armed attacks and arson. Since 1968, more than 14,000 people have been killed by bombing, and nearly 6,000 by armed attack, but CBRN attacks have accounted for less than 20 deaths [41]. The two most notorious unconventional attacks in modern history, Aum Shinrikyo s gassing of a Tokyo subway in 1995 and the anthrax attacks in the U.S. in the fall of 2001, killed a total of 17 people. The food poisoning by the Rajneeshees in Oregon in 1984 has also received much attention. While there were no fatalities when the cult poisoned several salad bars with Salmonella, there were more than 700 injuries. 

Marshall, Andrew, It Gassed the Tokyo Subway, Microwaved Its Enemies and Tortured Its Members. So Why is the Aum Cult Thriving The Guardian, July 15, 1999. 

In March 1995, a Japanese religious cult, Aum Shinriyko, released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system. Thousands were injured and 11 people were killed. 

Organophosphate and carbamate cholinesterase inhibitors (see Chapter 7) are widely used to kill insects and other pests. Most cases of serious organophosphate or carbamate poisoning result from intentional ingestion by a suicidal person, but poisoning has also occurred at work (pesticide application or packaging) or, rarely, as a result of food contamination or terrorist attack (eg, release of the chemical warfare nerve agent sarin in the Tokyo subway system in 1995). 

M. Nagao, T. Takatori, Y. Matsuda, M. Nakajima, H. Iwase and K. Iwadate, Definitive evidence for the acute sarin poisoning diagnosis in the Tokyo Subway, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., 144, 198-203 (1997). 

Fidder and coworkers (50) developed a versatile procedure that identifies phosphylated butyrylcholi-nesterase. Adducted butyrylcholinesterase is isolated from plasma by affinity chromatography (procainamide column), digested with pepsin, and a nonapep-tide containing the phosphylated active-site serine residue detected using LC/ESI/MS/MS (quadrupole-TOF hybrid instrument). A C18 150 x 0.3-mm LC column was used, eluted with a gradient of water-acetonitrile-0.2 % formic acid. The method was applied successfully to casualties of sarin poisoning from the Tokyo subway attack (see Chapter 17). 

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. 

A.T. Tu, Chemical Terrorism. Horrors in Tokyo Subway and Matsumoto City, Alaken Inc., Fort Collins, 2002. 

Application of the fluoride-reactivation method to serum samples of victims from the Tokyo subway attack, and of the Matsumoto incident, yielded, sarin concentrations in the range of 0.2-4.1ng/ml serum (44). Evidently, these casualties had been exposed to an organophosphate with the formula i-PrO(CH3)P(0)X, presumably with X = F (sarin). 

The hydrolytic displacement method was applied to four victims killed in the Tokyo subway attack (two died immediately and two later in hospital). Isopropyl methylphosphonic acid was identified at levels sufficient for full scan mass spectra to be obtained using a benchtop quadmpole mass spectrometer (46). Methylphosphonic acid was also identified. Some two years later, methylphosphonic acid... 

Finally, mass spectrometric determination of the phosphonylated peptic nonapeptide from butyrylcholinesterase allowed the positive identification of sarin-inhibited enzyme in serum samples from several Japanese victims of the Tokyo subway attack (see Figure 10). 

In the early 1990s, leaders of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese religious cult that in 1995 attacked riders on the Tokyo subway with a sarin nerve agent, made numerous trips to Russia.The group s leader in charge of weapons procurement made 21 trips to Russia between 1992 and 1995. Group leaders frequently met with senior government officials, such as the secretary of Russian Security Council, the Parliament speaker, and vice... 

Okumura, T., Suzuki, K., Fukuda, A. (1998). The Tokyo subway sarin attack Disaster management. Part 2 Hospital response. Academic Emergency Medicine, 5, 625-628. 

Okumura, T., Takasu, N., Ishimatsu, S. (1996). Report on 640 victims of the Tokyo subway sarin attack. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 28, 129-135. 

Tu, A. T. (2002). Chemical terrorism Horrors in Tokyo subway and Matsumoto City. Fort Collins, CO Alaken. 

Woodall, J. (1997). Tokyo subway gas attack [Letter]. Lancet, 350(9073), 296. 

In June 1994 and again in May 1995 the Japanese cult group Aum Shinrikyo created much havoc when they released the deadly nerve agent sarin in two Japanese cities. In the first attack in Matsumoto, Japan, sarin vapor was released in a residential area where judges unfriendly to the cult resided. Seven people died as a consequence of this nerve agent exposure, and 500 people were injured. The 1995 attack occurred in the Tokyo subway system. Several coordinated releases of this potentially deadly vapor resulted in more than 5,000 visits to local emergency departments. Fortunately, the vast majority of exposed victims had few if any symptoms and there were only a handful of fatalities (Tucker, 2006 for further discussion, see chapter 19—Biological and Chemical Terrorism A Unique Threat). 

Which chemical agent was used in the Tokyo subway system in 1995 How effective was this agent in causing physical injury ... 

Murata, K., S. Araki, K. Yokoyama, T. Okumura, S. Ishimatsu, N. Takasu, and R.F. White. 1997. Asymptomatic sequelae to acute sarin poisoning in the central and autonomic nervous system 6 months after the Tokyo subway attack. J. Neurol. 244 601-606. 

Terrorists have expressed an interest in nerve agents and have deployed them in attacks on unprotected civilians (Rotenberg and Newmark, 2003). A Japanese religious cult, Aum Shinrikyo, independently manufactured numerous chemical and biological agents. The first such attack with sarin occurred in Matsumoto in 1994 and the Tokyo subway in 1995. Thousands of people were affected and dozens of people died (Nagao et al, 1997 Ohtomi et al, 1996 Okumura et al, 1998 Yokoyama et al, 1998). In... 

Matsumoto (1994), 600 people were poisoned and hospitalized, and seven died (Morita et al, 1995 Nakajima et al, 1997 Yoshida, 1994). The attack in the Tokyo subway (1995) resulted in 5,500 people seeking hospital evaluation and 12 deaths (Bajgar, 2006). An interesting terroristic act was described by Tsuchihashi et al (2005) - a fatal intoxication with VX administered percutaneously. 

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