Johnnyreb wrote:I caught a bit of video purportedly showing the aftermath of the attack, injured people, dead kids, etc. And half a dozen still images, mostly of people who are still alive being treated. The still alive part is what I question. Those kids and the 3 men in the white plastic suits and the oxygen masks. This was nerve gas right? People exposed to nerve gas don't live through it do they? I thought just a tiny speck of that stuff was instant death. Nerve gas attacks leave lots of dead people, but wounded and still alive people would not be much around. And the dead would not be taking long enough to die to get on camera I wouldn't think. Nerve gas kills quickly, seconds, a minute tops or am I wrong about that?
And if someone is killed in a nerve gas attack, and someone wearing no protective clothing comes over and picks them up and carries them... is that a safe thing to do? Wouldn't that just kill you too?
That's... not how it works at all, really. A pencil dot of
VX, i.e. the state actor lab super chemical agent, is a lethal dose... but it's not
instantly fatal. There's a difference between inhaling a cloud of droplets and having one contact your skin. Even with VX, "Death usually occurs within 15 minutes after absorption of a fatal VX dosage."
But we're not even talking about VX. We're talking about sarin. In vapor form, not droplets. Despite its toxicity, it is entirely possible to take a lethal dose and still be treatable. A lethal dose doesn't mean "you're done son", only that you are probably going to die without treatment. As with all things vs the human body, concentration counts. A lot. There's a difference between slugging six shots of rum in five minutes and nursing 6 beers over 5 hours, y'know?
Relative toxicity still counts even with something as potent as a nerve agent.It's worth noting that doctors treating patients in the area have also wound up suffering symptoms of sarin exposure.
Also, the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo caused over 4,000 non-lethal casualties. "Several of those affected by sarin went to work in spite of their symptoms, most of them not realizing that they had been exposed to sarin. Most of the victims sought medical treatment as the symptoms worsened and as they learned of the actual circumstances of the attacks via news broadcasts."