OPCW Compromised - Doesn't Mention BZ in Skripal Samples
https://twitter.com/SpiezLab/status/985243574123057152
The Swiss Lab in Spiez that examined the samples for the OCPW in the Skripal case, discovered BZ in all off the samples examined, according to Sergei Lavrov, but the OPCW didn't mention it in their report! Nor does Spiez deny what Lavrov revealed.
The OPCW report:
https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e_.pdf
BZ
(3-quinuclidinyl benzillate)
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The gas causes temporary slowing of physical and mental activity,
disorientation,
and hallucinations. The effects last for up to 6 hours.
According to the U.S. Army's Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, which publishes current factsheets on many known chemical warfare agents, "BZ" is the Army's designation of the psychedelic chemical 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, also know as in military circles as "agent buzz" or by the Army chemical code designation EA2277. While BZ was produced at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas between 1962 and 1965, it was discontinued from the chemical arsenal in the late 1960's because "its effects on enemy front-line troops would be varied and unpredictable"(WWW1). To indicate the magnitude of BZ's role in the Army's chemical arsenal at that time, military records reveal that in 1962 alone two million dollars were allocated to the construction of a facility designed exclusively for weaponizing coventional bombs with BZ. Between 1962 and 1964, over one hundred thousand pounds of the chemical were produced solely for that purpose (Harris and Paxman 1982). With the incapacitating dose (ICt50) of BZ at 110 mg-min/m3, which translates to an effective respiratory dose of about 2 milligrams, the sheer quantity of BZ production reveals the considerable potential of its intended use. Still, in comparison to other chemical agents stockpiled in the US arsenal such as nerve and blister agents, the quantities of BZ were relatively small (SIPRI 1973).
While BZ is no longer a part of the US military chemical arsenal, as late as 1986 bombs filled with BZ were stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal and were still awaiting destruction (Chemical 1986). Surprisingly, BZ is readily available today from many chemical supply companies and can be easily ordered over the Internet (WWW4). An article in a 1979 issue of Science commented on the remarkable ease with which an ordinary citizen could obtain BZ, in this case from the drug company Hoffmann-La Roche (Marshall 1979). Because of its extremely high affinity for the muscarinic cholinergic receptors (Kalant and Roshlau 1990), much more so than atropine or scopolamine, it is often radio-labeled (especially with tritium) and used as neuropharmacological tag in muscarinic receptor binding assays (Liu et al. 1983). A keyword search for quinuclidinyl benzilate on MEDLINE or other scientific journal databases will reveal BZ as the industry standard high affinity ligand for the post-ganglionic muscarinic acetylcholine neurotransmitter receptor research (Iga et al. 1998; Kjome et al. 1998; Ellison et al. 1999; Abi-Gerges et al. 1997; Singh et al. 1994; Lenz et al 1994).
https://web.archive.org/web/20051218143739/http://www.thewednesdayreport.com:80/twr/bz.htm
Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned in Britain last month along with her father, a former Russian double agent, issued a statement on Thursday saying the
"entire episode is somewhat disorientating".
"I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily," the 33-year-old said in the statement issued on her behalf by London police.
"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/yulia-skripal-says-uk-poisoning-episode-somewhat-disorientating.html
3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate
BZ was invented by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffman-LaRoche in 1951.[2] The company was investigating anti-spasmodic agents, similar to tropine, for treating gastrointestinal ailments when the chemical was discovered.[2] It was then investigated for possible use in ulcer treatment, but was found unsuitable.
At this time the United States military investigated it along with a wide range of possible nonlethal, psychoactive incapacitating agents including psychedelic drugs such as LSD and THC, dissociative drugs such as ketamine and phencyclidine, potent opioids such as fentanyl, as well as several glycolate anticholinergics.[3][4] By 1959 the United States Army showed significant interest in deploying it as a chemical warfare agent.[2]
It was originally designated "TK", but when it was standardized by the Army in 1961 it received the NATO code name "BZ".[2] The agent commonly became known as "Buzz" because of this abbreviation and the effects it had on the mental state of the human volunteers intoxicated with it in research studies at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.[2]
As described in retired Army psychiatrist James Ketchum's autobiographical book Chemical Warfare: Secrets Almost Forgotten (2006), work proceeded in 1964 when a general envisioned a scheme to incapacitate an entire trawler with aerosolized BZ; this effort was dubbed Project DORK.[5] BZ was ultimately weaponized for delivery in the M44 generator cluster and the M43 cluster bomb, until all such stocks were destroyed in 1989 as part of a general downsizing of the US chemical warfare program.