Toxic Nazi discovery still with us today

In 1938, two German scientists were attempting to create stronger pesticides when they inadvertently discovered the formula for a toxic agent 500 times more lethal than cyanide. The substance came to be known as sarin, taking a few letters from each of the discoverers’ names. It was no big surprise that sarin shortly ended up in the hands of the chemical warfare office of the German Army Weapons Office.

Estimates say the Nazis produced anywhere from 500 kg to 10 tons of the stuff, and even incorporated sarin into artillery shells but, strangely, never used it on the allies, even as they were getting their rear ends kicked all the way back to a lonely suicidal bunker in Germany.

See the book Black Cross by Greg Iles for a riveting work of historical fiction hypothesizing the reasons behind the reluctance of the German high command to engage in biological/chemical warfare.

But that’s all history, right? Not quite. Remember the sarin attack on a Tokyo subway in 1995? To date, terrorists are batting a big fat zero on acquiring and using nuclear weapons in their mad schemes. But you can bet they’re sitting at home right now like crackhouse scientists, eyes glued to an internet recipe, swaddled in completely inadequate protective clothing, trying to mix up a toxic batch of something to drop directly on your head in flyover country.

When is a good time to get realistic about the possibilities of biological and chemical warfare on our shores? We’d say right about now.

The Holistic Survival Team