What is the VX nerve agent in the 'Kim Jong-nam' case?

In its gaseous form, VX is a highly lethal nerve agent.

Malaysian police recently announced that VX poison was used to kill the person believed to be Kim Jong-nam, the brother of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un., on February 13.

Gas mask. Photo: NPR.

VX is a highly toxic chemical that can kill a human in minutes. Because it is considered a weapon of mass destruction, VX was banned under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

Extremely toxic

Nerve agents are the most toxic and fastest-acting of all the chemicals used in chemical warfare. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), VX is the most potent of all nerve agents, including Sarin, which was used as a pesticide in Germany in 1938.

Chemically, nerve agents like VX are similar to pesticides, only much more powerful.

VX nerve gas was first developed in Britain in the 1950s as a chemical warfare agent. Experts say similar agents have been copied by countries including the United States, Russia, Syria and Iraq.

VX is a viscous, yellow, odorless, tasteless liquid.

The gas form of VX is the most dangerous. VX gas is extremely lethal. In liquid form, it can be released into water supplies or applied to food to cause poisoning.

Like other nerve agents, VX works by stopping an essential enzyme, causing the body to collapse and lose the ability to breathe.

VX is not only the deadliest chemical agent, it is also the most persistent in the environment. It evaporates slowly, especially in cold weather, making VX a threat both in the short and long term.

Symptoms of VX poisoning?

Depending on the level of exposure, symptoms of VX poisoning can appear immediately or after 18 hours.

Large amounts of VX gas can cause convulsions, loss of consciousness, paralysis, and death, due to the cessation of respiratory function.

Smaller, non-fatal amounts of the substance can produce a range of symptoms including rapid heart rate, blurred vision, vomiting, diarrhea, aches and pains, and fatigue.

Who can own VX?

VX nerve gas was first used in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. VX is in the same family of nerve agents as Sarin, which was used in the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack. That year, members of the Aum Supreme Truth cult released Sarin gas, killing 12 people and sickening more than 5,500 subway passengers.

VX is said to be easy to produce in a reasonably modern laboratory.

Any country that has attempted to produce modern chemical weapons can produce VX... The formula has been around since the 1950s,” said CNN military expert Rick Francona.

The 1925 Geneva Protocol was established after World War I to prevent the use of poison gases as weapons of mass destruction. The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (which entered into force in 1997) banned the development, production, stockpiling, storage and transfer of chemical weapons.

North Korea did not sign the 1993 Convention but is a party to the Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical weapons./.

According to VOV