Thousands of sheep died one night in 1968 in Skull Valley, Utah. Army officials got busy drafting a denial. They had been testing Cold War chemical and biological weapons, one of which was called VX.
The sheep were not the only animals who died near the Dugway Proving Grounds. Read the rest of the story at Damn Interesting. Link
VX was a triumph among the biological warfare community. Odorless and tasteless, it's three times as toxic as Sarin. In initial trials, this over-acheiving compound was also found to be highly stable, enabling long shelf life and environmental persistence. VX works by blocking chemicals in the victim's body from functioning. It prevents the enzyme acetylcholinesterase from allowing muscles to relax, resulting in the contraction of every muscle in the body. Exposure to a minute or diluted dose of VX will cause muscle twitching, drooling, excessive sweating, and involuntary defecation, among other unpleasantries. Exposure to a lethal dose — about ten milligrams — will cause convulsions, paralysis, and eventually asphyxiation due to sustained contraction of the diaphragm muscle. Unless the affected skin is cleaned and an antidote is administered immediately, a single drop of liquid VX will kill a person in around ten minutes
The sheep were not the only animals who died near the Dugway Proving Grounds. Read the rest of the story at Damn Interesting. Link
So it's like RAP music in liquid form?
Has lost her sheep
And thinks they may be roaming
They havent fled
They've all dropped dead
From nerve gas in Wyoming.
Dr. Stanley Goodspeed: It's very, very horrible sir. It's one of those things we wish we could disinvent.