Drop of nerve agent can kill in minutes
THE novichok nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is notoriously hard to remove.
Speaking about the attack, Ahmet Uzumcu, of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in June: ‘One thing, perhaps, which is important to note is that the nerve agent seems to be very persistent.’
It is believed to have been smeared in a liquid form on the door handle of Mr Skripal’s £3 0,000 home near Salisbury – but traces have been found across the cathedral city. The novichok family of nerve agents was developed at a research facility 0 miles outside of Moscow. A series of poisons, known as novichoks , 7, 8 and 9, were produced in complete secrecy in the 1980s.
They can all kill by inhibiting enzymes that control nerve receptors in the brain. One expert has said victims simply ‘forget to breathe’.
A tiny drop of novichok placed on the skin or inhaled can cause death within minutes. The toxins are generally unstable, meaning they should break down gradually over time.