Classified as a weapon of mass destruction sarin gas said to be behind the Syrian chemical attack

SARIN gas, believed to behind the chemical attack in Syria, was first developed by the Nazis. This is what happens when it’s released. WARNING: Graphic

WARNING: This story contains graphic content

SARIN, a nerve agent developed by the Nazis and classified as a weapon of mass destruction, is believed to be behind the latest chemical attack in Syria.

It is said to be 500 times deadlier than cyanide and death can occur in 60 seconds.

The attack on Tuesday left scores dead, including at least 10 children.

A Syrian child receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, after a suspected chemical attack. Picture: AFP

The odourless and colourless gas, the production and stockpiling of which was banned in 1987 by the Chemical Weapons Convention, has been used previously in a number of heinous attacks dating back to the 1970s.

That includes a terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

A Syrian doctor treats a child following a suspected chemical attack, at a makeshift hospital, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, Syria. Picture: AP

Sarin works on humans in a similar way to pesticides do on plants and insects. Death usually occurs due to suffocation from paralysis of the lung muscle.

The gas essentially turns the victim’s nervous system against them by overstimulating nerves throughout the body.

Symptoms include sweating, blurred vision, a runny nose and muscle twitches.

A sarin gas attack hit the Tokyo subway in 1995. Picture: News Corp

Longer exposure can lead to headache, foaming mouths, cramps, nausea, vomiting, involuntary urination and defecation, tightness in the chest, convulsions, coma and asphyxiation through respiratory arrest.

Twelve died in the attack by the notorious Aum Shinrykio religious sect. Picture: News Corp

A doctor in a hospital close to the latest attack told CNN, victims showed symptoms of “pale skin, sweating, narrow or pin-eye pupils, very intense respiratory detachments. Those symptoms match the usage of sarin.”

Symptoms begin within minutes of exposure to sarin. Since sarin has no taste or smell the person affected will likely have no idea what is occurring. But if a victim can survive for a few hours after exposure they will probably recover from the poisoning.

Antidotes to sarin do exist.

A man carrys a child into a medical centre following a suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. Picture: AFP

The US military issues troops with a Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion, which if applied immediately after exposure protects against sarin and other agents. That includes VX, the nerve agent used to kill the half brother of North Korea’s leader.

Sarin was discovered in 1938 by Nazi scientists seeking to create stronger pesticides.

It takes its name from the scientists who first synthesised it: Schrader, Ambros, Rudriger, and van der Linde.

The Nazis decided not to use sarin during World War II.

A member of UN investigation team, is escorted by Syrian rebels, in Damascus countryside of Zamalka, in 2013 following a suspected chemical weapons attack. Picture: AP

However after capturing the German plant at the end of the war, Russia resumed its production.

According to some reports Russia has stockpiled over 10,000 tons of sarin.

North Korea, Iran, Libya and Iraq are all suspected of having stockpiles.

In 2013 the region of Ghouta was hit by a sarin attack during the Syrian Civil war, reports said the death toll was as high as 1700.

The attack upon Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib on Tuesday was the first sarin attack since then.

The worst sarin attack was upon Iraq’s Kurdish population in 1988, when around 5,000 people died.

It was also used at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, allowing Iraqi forces to retake the al-Faw Peninsula.

Victims of a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

Sarin has also been used by outside conflict zones.

According to some reports Chile’s intelligence service DINA — the National Intelligence Directorate — used sarin in spray cans for easy use for assassination.

While Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo released the gas into Matsumoto, Japan in 1994, killing eight people.

Authorities clean up after the attack in Tokyo. Picture: Getty

The religious sect then released the gas in another terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system during peak hour a year later, killing 12 people and injuring over 5,000.

At that time it was the deadliest incident in Japan since World War II.

The first recorded chemical attack occurred on April 22, 1915 in Belgium when the German army released around 150 tons of chlorine gas, killed and injured around 5,000 Allied soldiers.

Two German soldiers and their mule wearing gas masks in 1916.

German prisoners wear gas masks in Ypres, France in April, 1915. Picture: AP