If we take into account the rapidity of the toxic effects on the organism, the most poisonous are the gases used as chemical weapons. In the chart below, we’ve rounded up four super-damaging substances that take a maximum of five minutes to disrupt vital body functions. Is there a remedy for this type of gas? Yes: atropine, a chemical substance considered as a universal antidote for poisoning, which maintains the body’s oxygenation. Gas masks also help, but the substance can still wreak havoc when absorbed through the skin.
FENTANYL
COMPOSITION: Opium-based substances
EFFECTS: Causes cardiac and respiratory arrest
TIME TO ACT: 2 minutes
FAMOUS USE: In 2002, to stop a terrorist attack that took 700 hostages in Russia; 129 people died
sarin
COMPOSITION: Carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, fluorine and oxygen
TIME TO ACT: 1 to 5 minutes
EFFECT: Paralyzes the central nervous system
FAMOUS USE: On the Tokyo subway in 1995, in a terrorist attack by the Japanese sect Teaching of Ultimate Truth. Twelve people died and more than 5,000 were poisoned.
VX
COMPOSITION: Organophosphate used as a pesticide
TIME TO ACT: Immediate action
EFFECTS: Muscular and respiratory arrest, nausea, spasms and blurred vision
FAMOUS USE: During the 1980s, by the Iraqi Army in the war against Iran (1980-1988)
MUSTARD
COMPOSITION: Carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and sulfur
TIME TO ACT: Immediate action
WHAT CAUSES: Injuries to the skin, eyes and bone marrow. There is no antidote.
FAMOUS USE: In both World Wars and the Ethiopian War, 1936, by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
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