https://www.boards.ie/ Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:51:45 +0000 en sarin — boards.ie - Now Ye're Talkin' https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057041631/sarin-gas-is-absolutely-horrific Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:30:03 +0000 After Hours Akrasia 2057041631@/discussions http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0916/474468-syria/
Sarin gas is probably the worst most depraved 'technology' that humans have ever come up with.

It is repulsive, even thinking about it ought to turn your stomach

Sarin is a nerve agent, so it works by injestion into your nervous system where it interferes with your nerve receptors and prevents them from turning off.
It is 26 times more lethal than Cyanide and it can kill in tiny doses. If you get a less than lethal dose, you can suffer permanent neurological damage.

It is odourless and colourless and it is extremely volitile, meaning that it turns from liquid into a gas very easily. It also means that it can be absorbed through your skin, so even if you are wearing a gas mask, you will be affected.

So this means that a Sarin attack releases an invisible cloud of poison gas that is toxic at extremely low doses. The initial symptoms are a runny nose, dilated pupils and a tightness in your chest followed by the rapid loss of all muscle and organ control. You will struggle for breath, vomit, urinate and deficate before asphyxiating to death. This can take just one minute from first exposure.

All of that is horrible, awful, disgusting, but the worst aspect of all of this is that the human instinct to help others who are in trouble is used against us. If someone is exposed to Sarin, they will have the chemical on their clothes where it will continue to release into the environment. If you see someone dying and you go to help them, you will probably die too. If someone runs away from the scene, even if they are not showing symptoms, they might have sarin on their clothes, if you give them shelter, they might expose you and your family.

The chemical can remain in the environment for days or weeks. If your loved ones are dead you can't even go to their side to mourn them.

What kind of monster would stockpile a weapon such as this?

I know that other forms of warfare are just as destructive. Bombs and bullets and machetes are all brutal violent things and innocent people who find themselves caught up in this violence can have their lives utterly destroyed, but these chemical weapons take this to a new level.

The standards of warfare as low as they are, have to have limits on what the world will allow in combat. Until we can figure out a way to end all violent conflict, there will be wars, and there will be war crimes and atrocities, but we have to make the absolute minimum standards as below.

We do not allow the use of nuclear weapons, Chemical weapons or Biological weapons.
There is absolutely no justification for any of these. None.]]>