What are Novichok nerve agents and did Russia do it?
By Alice Klein
The poison used to target ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury was a Novichok nerve agent, UK prime minister Theresa May revealed yesterday.
The chemical was identified by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, May told the House of Commons.............
Detective work
Identifying the Novichok agent would have been a painstaking process, says Martin Boland at Charles Darwin University in Australia.
If someone shows signs of nerve agent poisoning, the first thing to do is to check for decreased acetylcholinesterase activity. This reveals if a nerve agent has bound to the enzyme.
Next, the specific nerve agent must be identified. A telltale sign of poisoning with sarin, for example, is unnaturally high blood levels of fluoride, which is used to make the nerve agent.
Because no standard test exists for Novichoks, defence officials may have taken fluid from the Skripals’ spinal cords, isolated the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, and analysed the structure of the nerve agent attached, says Boland. Western intelligence agencies probably have knowledge of the exact Novichok structures, allowing them to detect a match, he says.
The poison used to target ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury was a Novichok nerve agent, UK prime minister Theresa May revealed yesterday.The chemical was identified by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, May told the House of Commons.............
Detective work
Identifying the Novichok agent would have been a painstaking process, says Martin Boland at Charles Darwin University in Australia.
If someone shows signs of nerve agent poisoning, the first thing to do is to check for decreased acetylcholinesterase activity. This reveals if a nerve agent has bound to the enzyme.
Next, the specific nerve agent must be identified. A telltale sign of poisoning with sarin, for example, is unnaturally high blood levels of fluoride, which is used to make the nerve agent.
Because no standard test exists for Novichoks, defence officials may have taken fluid from the Skripals’ spinal cords, isolated the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, and analysed the structure of the nerve agent attached, says Boland. Western intelligence agencies probably have knowledge of the exact Novichok structures, allowing them to detect a match, he says.
posted by Bill at
9:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home