Nerve Gas Scare at U.N. Headquarters

ABC ^

[farlander]

United Nations weapons inspectors discovered six to eight vials of a dangerous nerve gas, phosgene, as they were cleaning out offices at a U.N. building in New York this morning, federal authorities tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The federal authorities said the office, in a U.N. building near headquarters, was being evacuated and the White House had been notified at 10 a.m.

New York police and fire officials reported to the scene around 12:15 this afternoon.

A U.N. spokesperson said a statement would be issued shortly.

Authorities said the phosgene was believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991.

Former U.N. weapons inspectors told ABCNews.com that vials of phosgene had also been used by inspectors in Iraq to help calibrate air sampling instruments.

[Lurker]

dangerous nerve gas, phosgene

Phosgene is not a nerve agent.

L

[ichabod1]

Authorities said the phosgene was believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991.

OK, then. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along, move along.

[ichabod1]

That’s because the I da ho senator is still out running cover for everything else in the world.

[ichabod1]

Yeah I remember during the invasion we kept finding drums of pesticide. Maybe it’s one of them.

[Paco]

And why would Iraq place nerve gas in the UN in the first place? I’m not a professional reporter or journalist, but this is a question I might ask...

[crazyshrink]

Choking bugs to death?

sarc/off

[DallasMike]

Phosgene isn't a nerve gas. It works by combining with water in your lungs and forming hydrochloric acid which damages lung tissue. It does not work on neurotransmitter chemicals.

It also denatures the proteins in affected areas. It essentially cooks you. That's why the worst symptoms often don't occur until 24-48 hours after exposure.

[avacado]

"Former U.N. weapons inspectors told ABCNews.com that vials of phosgene had also been used by inspectors in Iraq to help calibrate air sampling instruments."

I'm calling BS on that statement! I am no expert, so FReepers please correct me, but phosgene is not used to calibrate air sampling equipment. There is air sampling equipment designed to DETECT phosgene.

I think this is the MSM pulling a fast one.

[drzz]

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=4e4R1tDm1DQ

[faq]

Those WMD’s can be kind of hard to find, huh? Wait.... this stuff was in your office?!

[penelopesire]

“I think this is the MSM pulling a fast one.”

I think the weasals at Unmovic and the UN are ‘pulling a fast one’!! I can find no mention of phosgene or carbonyl cloride(it’s chemical name in any of the weapons reports ever submitted to the UN so far. I am still looking though.

[jveritas]

That is surprising to me as well.

[KarlInOhio]

If you had a piece of equipment that measured the concentration of phosgene in the air, I could understand that you might need samples with a known concentration of phosgene to calibrate it. Snap in your 1 part per million sample and make sure your equipment reads it as 1 ppm instead of 2 ppm.

However no one has told what concentration of phosgene was in the vials found at the UN.

[tobyhill]

The media is spinning every way they can waiting to see what the sheeple buy. The chems were logged as being found in 1996 from an operational chemical storage depot. The mandate for Saddam to destroy his WMD was well before 1996 so it doesn’t really matter what year it was made, it was found but not all was found. I helped decommission a chem depot in Europe in early 90s and none of what we had was less than 20 years old but was still highly potent and still subject to use.

[Lijahsbubbe]

With any luck, one of the (msnbc?) reporters will open a vile and tell us what it smells like.

Since Kofi was there at the time, I think he should come back and test it out.

[avacado]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[RasterMaster]

Wouldn’t effect any UN members...most don’t have spines anyway!

[avacado]

I just replied to you but just thought of something. Why would the be testing for phosgene? I ask this because the UN was allowing Iraq to import phosgene. Perhaps they were checking to make sure Iraq wasn’t manufacturing it themselves?

[avacado]

You’re right, it was found at a chemical plant in 1996 and the spin factor is in full gear.

[roses of sharon]

Since Unmovic, the UN, Blix, Koffi, and the MSM ect, have all ADMITTED their partisanship with Saddam in the years since they were “inspecting” him, whatever they say now cannot be trusted.

And their ADMITTED hostility towards the US, I believe nothing they say.