Sarin Nerve Gas -> Gulf War Illness

I don't remember hearing anything about GI's getting sick from the Gulf War, but even if I had, it's not like I was going to do anything about it. Veterans seem to be at least somewhat organized, I'm sure they can bring pressure to bear where it's needed. Maybe they did, maybe not, but in any case some whiz kids got to the root cause of the problem and it's kind of stinky.

Genetic study confirms sarin nerve gas as cause of Gulf War illness - Science Daily

For three decades, scientists have debated the underlying cause of Gulf War illness (GWI), a collection of unexplained and chronic symptoms affecting veterans of the Persian Gulf War. Now researchers have solved the mystery, showing through a detailed genetic study that the nerve gas sarin was largely responsible for the syndrome.

While the whiz kids were digging into this problem they found a gene that affects how fast the body can breakdown nerve agents like Sarin. Whether you get sick or die also depends on your level of exposure. Even good genes can't protect you against an unhealthy dose.

I found this line in the Science Daily story intriguing:

In particular, satellite imagery documented a large debris cloud rising from an Iraqi chemical weapons storage site bombed by U.S. and coalition aircraft and transiting over U.S. ground troop positions where it set off thousands of nerve gas alarms and was confirmed to contain sarin.

"set off thousands of nerve gas alarms"? Nerve gas alarms? Are there such things? Must be. Thousands of them? Well, this is the Army, if your going to make one, may as well make a zillion.

Digging around I found some videos. The first one is from 2012 from the University of Michigan:

Associate professor Jinsang Kim, inspired by his own land mine detector, developed a nerve agent detection sensor that only requires bare eye to observe the presence of the dangerous nerve gas.

Nerve Agent Detection Sensor
University of Michigan Engineering

Then we've got the Army's time consuming protocol for figuring out whether you were going to live or die. From 1963.


Air Testing for Nerve Agents 1963
markdcatlin
From 2013 we have an actual, portable, nerve case detector.


The Smiths Detection LCD 3.3
Smiths Detection
Lastly, we've got a promotional video for a detector with built in GPS. I can see where that could be handy if you are trying to determine just how big an area has been affected. Nice thing about mechanical devices is that they can keep reporting even if the person carrying it has been incapacitated.  Geez, this is being to sound like one of those science fiction horror stories.


ChemProX - New Generation Handheld Chemical Detector
Environics Oy

What do nerve gas alarms sound like? Do I even want to know? I wonder if the detector manufacturers created a new alarm sound, or did they just a standard warning beeper? If it was a special sound, you wouldn't want to broadcast it because sure as shootin' some gumball would be creating fake nerve gas alarms. On the other hand, if no one recognizes the sound, it might make people curious, but it shouldn't cause a panic. Panic, no matter what the situation is almost always a very bad thing. An ordinary warning beeper should be fine. I mean how many people are going to be caring nerve gas detectors? If you are someplace where people are carrying them, you might want to find another place to be.

Lastly, there was this article from 2013  that sounds like something totally made-up, like unobtanitum, but is apparently a real thing:

This Detector Finds Tiny Amounts Of Nerve Gases By Their Sound by Jennifer Welsh on Insider

Via My Daily Kona