SARIN GAS : Should we get involved?

By Kristen Daniel

The chemical structure of Sarin

     Sarin gas is an incredibly fast-acting and is the most toxic weapon. It only takes one small drop that you can’t even see for it to be lethal.  This paper will discuss the following issues; how it’s made, how it affects the body, My Opinion about whether the U.S. government should use conventional bombs, the treatment that it would take to get cured from this, and finally what type of gas mask should one use if the need comes.  I hope to give you all the information that you need to maybe someday protect yourself or other from Sarin gas if something ever goes dreadfully wrong.
The first issue that I would like to address is how Sarin (or also known as GB) is made. A lot of people think that Sarin is a chemical that is an earthly made gas; but Sarin is actually man made. In Germany in 1938 Sarin gas was made as a pesticide. When it got to America in 1967 the military secretly tested it I upper Waiakea Forest Reserve. The test was called “Red Oak” and it was confirmed by the pentagon in November of 2002. What it was, was a test where testers filled Sarin into a 155mm artillery shell so they we able to study how the nerve agent disperses in a tropical jungle setting. In the 1980’s is when the US started using the chemical in warfare.
The next issue that I will discuss is how the gas affects your body. It only takes less than 40 seconds for the gas to be able to get to you and for you to be dead.  The amount that anyone can take is 1 milligram, that’s the lethal does. What the gas does when you are exposed to it is you start to twitch at the exposed area. While that the gas mainly attacks your muscles. There is different type of symptoms for the gas; it depends on how long you were exposed to the gas.  If you exposed for a mild amount of time then you will have a runny nose, watery eyes, small and pinpoint pupils, eye pain, cough, drooling or excessive sweating, chest tightness, rapid breathing, diarrhea, increased urination, confusion, drowsiness, weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, slow or fast heart rate, low or high blood pressure, loss of consciousness, convulsions, paralysis, and/ or respiratory failure possibly leading to death. For the sever exposer the symptoms are loss of consciousness, convulsions, paralysis, and/or respiratory failure possibly leading to death.  The symptoms are mainly the same but they server symptoms are more aggressive because of the act that they are the ones that had more exposer time to the gas, and the mild exposer timed ones did not.

The cure for the poising is a dose of Pralidoxime or Protopam Chloride. The treatment for getting Sarin poising is to obviously get out of the area with the gas in it and to find an area with fresh air and not contaminated. If the gas is outdoors then the best thing to do is to go to a higher surface in the area. Reason being that Sarin gas is heavier than the air and it will sink, so if you are on a higher surface than the gas then you should be fine.  The next thing that you should do is remove any contaminated cloths from your body, flush out your eyes with water, and with soap wash your skin, and get medical attention as quickly as you possibly can. If the Sarin gas is digested then do not vomit or flush with fluids. You need to get medical attention as quickly as humanly possible. In many hospitals there are antidotes that are available to you.
When you are around Sarin gas is an incredibly smart Idea to get a gas mask on. But there are many different kinds of gas masks the type that are right for you is the charcoal gas mask.  The gas masks act like a Brita filter it filters out all of the gas chemicals. You should always carry a gas mask on you when the need comes you have it. Now I’m not saying you need a gas mask tomorrow, I mean in the future if/when the time is necessary to have it.

A person in a Sarin Gas mask to be protected

The final thing that I will be discussing with all of you is my opinion on if the government should use strike with conventional bombs. I think that when the time comes we should use what is necessary, but that doesn’t mean do something that will come to bit us in the butt later on down the road. I think that if we ever need to use Sarin gas in war, then I think that we should wait and really think about what we’re doing. What if the people were attacking with the gas can grind the gas and use it against us. That is my opinion on if we should use the gas later on down the road.

     "Sarin gas: A look at the deadly chemical weapon | CTV News ." CTV News | Top Stories - Breaking News -     Top News Headlines. CTV , 13 Sept. 2001. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/sarin-gas-a-look-at-the-deadly-chemical-weapon-1.1435991>.
Library, CNN. "Sarin Fast Facts - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. CNN , 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/health/sarin-fast-facts/index.html>.
Library, CNN. "Sarin Fast Facts - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. CNN , 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/health/sarin-fast-facts/index.html>.