Key Points on Sarin: The ‘Most Volatile’ of Nerve Agents<br />According to the United States military, sarin is 81 times as toxic as cyanide<br />and 543 times as toxic as chlorine, which has been used in Syria as a chemical weapon.<br />By RUSSELL GOLDMANAPRIL 6, 2017<br />The victims of a bombing in northern Syria this week were exposed to sarin, a banned but easily manufactured poison<br />that has been widely used in chemical weapons, Turkish officials who conducted autopsies on the victims said on Thursday.<br />All nerve agents belong to a class of organic compounds<br />that contain phosphorous, and work in essentially the same way, by inhibiting the action of a crucial enzyme in the body that allows muscles and organs to contract.<br />Sarin is a nerve agent, one of a class of chemical weapons<br />that affect the brain’s ability to communicate with the body’s organs through the nervous system.<br />On the battlefield, sarin and other nerve agents can be used against targets by spraying them as a liquid or an aerosol.<br />"This means it can easily and quickly evaporate from a liquid into a vapor<br />and spread into the environment." Sarin vapor does not last long, but it can be deadly if inhaled.<br />The Syrian government agreed in 2013 to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, including sarin.
