Gerhard Schrader (1903–1990)
In 1936, the German chemist Gerhard Schrader, working at IG Farben, was seeking to develop an insecticide that would disrupt the function of the insect nervous system. His studies focused upon the organophosphates, anticholinesterase chemicals that prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine.
DRUGS OF DEATH. One of these compounds, tabun, proved extremely effective in killing leaf lice, but accidental exposure to a single drop demonstrated dramatically that its toxic effects were not limited to insects. Schrader was overcome with dizziness and had severe difficulty seeing, thinking, and breathing. The focus of Schrader’s research was immediately redirected from insect poisons to nerve gases intended for use as chemical-warfare weapons. If used on the battlefield, within minutes after very small amounts are inhaled or one to two hours after being absorbed through the skin, these highly volatile liquids are capable of causing death from respiratory failure.
Schrader, the “father of nerve gas,” synthesized tabun (designated GA) in 1936, sarin (GB) in 1939, and soman (GD) in 1944. The German production of nerve gases remained secret until the final months of World War II, but they were never deployed against Allied troops.
The Iraqis were said to have used sarin in their 1980–1988 war against Iran but not during the Persian Gulf War. To protect American combatants against the potential deployment of sarin, the antidote pyridostigmine was given. It was thought that American and United Nations troops had been exposed to nerve gases when a chemical depot in Khamisiyah was destroyed in 1991, and many believe that this exposure, in combination with pyridostigmine use, may have contributed to Gulf War Syndrome.
In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Chemical Warfare Convention that outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons, including nerve gases, and calls for the destruction of existing stores. This did not end the use of nerve gases, however. In 1995, members of the radical and militant religious organization Aum Shinrikyo released sarin on several Tokyo Metro subway trains, killing twelve and severely injuring more than fifty people, with thousands of others affected.
SEE ALSO Neostigmine and Pyridostigmine (1935), DDT (1939).
Just as early miners brought caged canaries into coal mines to detect gas leaks, rabbits were used to detect leaks at a sarin nerve gas production plant at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City, Colorado.