VX Gas: An Introduction

• Despite its name, VX gas is a straw coloured, toxic liquid (boiling point 298 degrees celcius) with the formula:

  
  methylphosphonothioic acid, S-[2-[bis(1-methylethyl)amino]ethyl]- O-ethyl ester

• In a combat situation, VX Gas would be deployed by detonating a container (e.g. a missile) of gas over the target area.

• VX Gas has an LD50 (dose toxic to 50% of victims) is the lowest of any known compound at only 10mg (a raindrop weighs about 50mg).

• VX Gas is easily absorbed into the body, and inhalation at concentrations as low as 30mg per cubic metre kills within fifteen minutes.

• VX Gas disrupts the passage of messages between nerves, and from nerves to muscles.

• VX Gas causes many symptoms, and usually kills.

• VX Gas has effective antidotes if treated promptly.

• The International Chemical Weapons Convention bans the use of nerve agents (including VX Gas), and requires all stockpiles to be destroyed by 2007.

• UN weapons inspectors have found EMPTA, a VX precursor, in Iraqi factories, and at the site of the 1998 US bombardment of factories in The Sudan