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Seeing how the long-expected Skripal poisoning drama is now out on BBC1, here's some facts about nerve agents in general and this incident in particular. Mostly rehashed from stuff I've already done https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08dqns1
Why didn't the Skripals die? Because of medical care and the slow rate of action of nerve agents absorbed through the skin https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/04/06/myth-busting-why-didn-t-the-skripals-die-on-the-spot
This idea that nerve agents are sudden instant death when you get them on your skin is bunkum. As in, not true. If you didn't know that, you were lied to or just haven't done the reading. See my thread here: https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/986178633374027776
And yes, generations of soldiers in many armies were told lies, myths, and half-truths in order to get you to put your mask on quickly. Or if it was the UK military, you called it a respirator. Both words are right.
Another myth is that there is not any antidote or treatment for "Novichoks". All of the nerve agents, including these 'new' ones, cause bodily harm the same way. And the primary treatment is still the same. A drug called atropine.
You can find a free textbook from the US Army online. It's called "Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare" - don't take my word for it. Go read Chapter 5. By the way, I corresponded with Dr Newmark for my own book research.
And don't start with me on the line of "doctors and paramedics don't have atropine". It is simply not true in England. It's on every NHS ambulance and in every hospital.
Another myth is that you have to exactly identify a poison before you do anything to treat a patient. That's utter bullshit.
"Why didn't the doctors and paramedics die" - mostly because the poison was 1000 meters away on a door handle, and what little was on the victims was likely just on their hands. And gloves. Medics wear gloves
The Russian state, through its state-owned media almost immediately pushed dozens of conspiracy theories ranging from the barely plausible to the sublimely ridiculous. https://www.ft.com/content/c655aa4a-3b82-11e9-b856-5404d3811663
Many useful idiots are banging on to this day, repeating one of more of the fake news and disinformation stories. Don't believe them.
There appear to be people who are downright angry that the Skripals survived and/or that the NHS saved them. This is downright nasty despicable behaviour. Victim-shaming of terrorism victims is wrong.
There are people this morning tweeting shameful things about the physical appearance of Yulia Skripal. No doubt they will also say bad things about the late Dawn Sturgess. Report and block these vultures.
Many people are making much of the phrase "military grade" - it is largely a useless term in nerve agents. Militaries have made a wide variety of qualities of nerve agent ranging from very pure to basically toxic waste with a bit of agent in it. The term is debased through misuse
There's a misconception that military chemical weapons are designed only to kill instantly. Nerve agents don't kill instantly. Persistent liquid ones tend to kill slowly. As @PhilipIngMBE points out, they were designed to interdict terrain and contaminate equipment
The "Where are the Skripals" question will be asked. But if I had been the subject of such a vile murder plot by the Russian state, I'd be hiding too. Don't be daft.
Sergei Skripal's life story is an interesting one, and I cannot do justice to it here, or in my own book. Instead, read @MarkUrban01 's book - it is very good
There's really one thing called "Novichok" - The word refers to a whole family of chemicals, one of which, A-234, was used in this attack.
By the way, it makes no sense to ever spell it "Novichock" - so don't do it.
If you are interested in the history of nerve agents, including the so-called 'Novichok' agents, I've written a whole book on this. Out from 2 July in the UK, in the autumn in the US. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toxic-History-Agents-Germany-Putins/dp/1787383067
Several have already asked about the various "alternative narratives" and conspiracy theories that were spread by Russian media. Here's a PARTIAL list.
More inane "theories" were spouted almost instantly after Sturgess and Rowley got ill.
Others make much of the fact that a senior Army nurse is walking around Salisbury. Much of the British Army is based around Salisbury. Colonel McCourt (please use her title) lived in Larkhill just outside of Salisbury. It's not a surprise to find an Army colonel in Wiltshire.
"I can't believe an Army officer lives in Garrison town outside of Salisbury" is the weakest ass-gravy of conspiracy theories.
Others are hung up on the park bench. "How did anyone manage to see them on the out of the way park bench" is the broad strain of the theory. So, to test this, I visited the park and the location of the bench last year.
This is a similar bench in the same park. Photo by me, 24 June 2019. Within meters of the Skripal bench
If you were to stand where I did and turn right, you'd have had a view of this activity in the months after Skripal's poisoning. (photo via Telegraph)
This little park is exactly situated at a bit of a chokepoint between much of the dining and shopping of central Salisbury and a massive parking area.
Here's google street view of this small green space, which may or may not officially be a "park"
Here ends my thread for now. You know how to find me.
PS - Nerve agents are well understood by science. By giving them magical and mythical properties which they don't actually have, you are putting yourself on the wrong side of things.
