3. It is believed that Syria is able to develop and produce the blistering agent, mustard gas, as well as the nerve gas sarin—and possibly also VX nerve agent. Nerve agents are called that because they attack the human nervous system.
4. A lethal dose (2 teaspoons) of VX, absorbed through the skin, can kill within minutes. A lethal dose (0.06 ounces) of sarin, absorbed through the skin, can kill within 5-10 minutes. A lethal dose (.14 ounces) of tabun, absorbed through the skin, can kill within 15-20 minutes.
5. Sarin is a nerve agent first developed by German researchers in the late 1930s. Up to 500 times more toxic than cyanide, it is a colorless and odorless liquid that causes severe muscle spasms, vision loss, and asphyxia, and which can kill within a minute of contact in extreme cases. Sarin was classified as a “weapon of mass destruction” and banned in the United Nations' Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
