The Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. She fights in particular against the use of sarin in Syria, a weapon which attacks the lungs.
We were talking about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist, Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor, who fights against sexual violence… It is finally the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This international organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands and which ensures that the International Convention on Chemical Weapons is properly applied. This convention aims at the outright elimination of chemical weapons in the 189 signatory countries.
The OPCW, little known to the general public, has been in the spotlight lately as it works with the United Nations to dismantle the Syrian chemical arsenal. In this conflict, the use of chemical weapons has long been suspected. Last May, proof of the use of sarin gas was provided. And in August, Doctors Without Borders (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1999) declared to have received, in three of the hospitals it supports, no less than 3,600 patients suffering from neurotoxic symptoms, of which 355 are said to have died.
What do we know about sarin gas?
First of all, it is not a gas but an extremely volatile, odorless and colorless liquid. It is part of the chemical family of organophosphate neurotoxicants in which military gases and insecticides are found. As toxicologist Jean-Marc Sapori explained to the Fréquence M webradio last May, “it disrupts the central nervous system and the neurotransmission of acetylcholine.”
Listen to Dr Jean-Marc Sapori, toxicologist at the Lyon poison control center: “People start to salivate, to have watery eyes, and especially large bronhial secretions, which can suffocate them. “
The use of sarin during the Tokyo metro attacks in 1995 also showed that this neurotoxicant caused a decrease in the diameter of the pupil by contraction of the iris and convulsions. Depending on the concentration, duration and mode of exposure, which may be respiratory or cutaneous, paralysis of the respiratory centers and asphyxiation can occur within 10 minutes to an hour.
An antidote not readily available in Syria
A period which therefore leaves little time to act, especially since the treatments are limited. Respiratory symptoms can be managed with intubation and assisted ventilation. A drug, atropine, can also be used in high doses to dry up secretions in the lungs. In addition, there is indeed an antidote but it seems difficult to send to Syria in large quantities.
Listen to Dr Jean-Marc Sapori : “The antidote regenerates the receptors to which the sarin has attached itself. But, it is produced in small quantity. “
To treat the effects of sarin would also require a highly organized health system, which is no longer the case in Syria today. Delon the World Health Organization at least 35% of public hospitals are down and 70% of health professionals have fled the country.
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