Sarin Essay

Industrial Chemical Sarin as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Industrial chemical sarin has the capacity to be a weapon of mass destruction. The sarin chemical attacks the nervous system, where it produces excruciating pain and uncontrollable muscular contraction that can impair breathing and other vital bodily functions. Considering that it deprives the body of oxygen, such could be deadly. (Baker, 2017). In a place like ours where there are a lot of people, sarin is a very efficient weapon of mass destruction. Sarin can be administered through air inhalation because of its rapid vaporization ability. Through eye contact, patients may also be impacted. Additionally, because sarin is extremely soluble in water, it can also be administered through rainwater. One person whose clothing is exposed to sarin can release its vapor that can spread to other people. Sarin vapor due to its higher density than the atmospheric air sinks to low lying areas and when released into the atmosphere will move to infect victims with ease hazardously. Therefore, in this case, its administration to a village might be through an airplane.

Symptoms of Sarin Poisoning

The symptoms of sarin poisoning appear a few seconds after exposure to its vapor form. In such a case, the victims will never know instantly of the exposure because it is colorless and odorless. Whether the mode of exposure is drinking contaminated water, breathing air or touching contaminated surface symptoms such as a runny nose, watery eyes, small, pinpoint pupils, cough, blurred vision, chest tightness, rapid breathing nausea among many other symptoms will feature (CDC, 2013).

Steps for Emergency Managers to Reduce the Impact of Sarin Poisoning

Due to the adversities associated with large-scale sarin poisoning, the steps taken by emergency managers should aim at reducing the number of the affected persons. The chemical acts fast, and it may not be possible to assist the already affected persons. Emergency managers should access the extent of damage regarding areas affected and release information of the attack to the public. The public should be educated about the symptoms and action needed to reduce the impacts of sarin poisoning (Li et al., 2015). For the unaffected persons, the emergency managers should distribute protective gears to ensure that people involved in the process of helping the victims are not affected.

References

Baker, N. (2017). What is sarin nerve gas, how does it kill you and what does footage of the Syria ’chemical weapon attack’ show?. The Sun. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3258573/sarin-gas-syria-attack-donald-trump-bashar-al-assad/

Li, H.-L., Tang, W.-J., Ma, Y.-K., Jia, J.-M., Dang, R.-L., & Qiu, E.-C. (2015). Emergency response to nuclear, biological and chemical incidents: challenges and countermeasures. Military Medical Research, 2(19)

CDC. (2013). Facts About Sarin. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/sarin/basics/facts.asp