nerve agents / nerve gases / CBR weapons

Introduction

man-made chemical agents which primarily affect the nervous system in a similar manner to many pesticides
they are generally liquid at room temperature, can mix with water and evaporate readily to odorless or near-odorless vapors which are heavier than air
they tend to be readily absorbed through skin
the main nerve agents are the chemicals:
- sarin (GB)
- soman (GD)
- tabun (GA)
- VX
- Novichok
  - a series of binary chemical weapons developed by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971 and 1993
  - some variants possibly five to eight times more potent than VX, some up to ten times more potent than soman
  - 1995: the forerunner of Novichok agents, substance-33 (frequently also referred to simply as “Novichok”) was reportedly used to poison Russian banker Ivan Kivelidi [ru], and Zara Ismailova, his secretary.
  - 2018: UK government said that a Novichok agent had been used in an attack in the English city of Salisbury on 4 March 2018 in an attempt to kill former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
    - Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess found a perfume bottle in the park and in June 2018 also developed severe symptoms and being found unconscious in their house with Dawn Sturgess later dying from the exposure.
  - see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novichok_agent