How to recognize a chemical attack compared to a conventional one

Interview with Paola Manduca, professor of Genetics at the University
of Genoa, and coordinator of the New Weapons Committee, a group of
researchers who deal with the study long-term effects of the use of
non-conventional weapons on populations.

 
Chemical weapons being talked about these days, which the press referred to as Sarin, but may also be other compounds with similar effects, are neurotoxic. They leave traces in the victims that can be shown with analytical tests that measure the serum level of a product of the hydrolysis for Sarin. There are portable laboratories capable of doing the essential analysis and it would have been expected that the UN mission had them, but it was not so. Anyhow, is still possible to prove the use of neurotoxic in the last accident in Syria. The neurotoxic compounds do not cause obvious injuries, but immediately produce a range of symptoms that are recognizable. Many die, while the people that absorb a non-lethal dose and are not treated immediately, may have permanent neurological damage.