Tuesday, September 17, 2013
EVIDENCE
The U.N. inspectors’ report cited the following evidence to support conclusions that the nerve agent sarin was used:
Rockets and fragments were found to contain sarin. “Several surface-to-surface rockets capable of delivering significant chemical payloads were identified and recorded at the investigated sites,” the investigators said.
Close to the impact sites, in the area where people were affected, inspectors collected 30 soil and environmental samples — far more than any previous U.N. investigation — and in a majority of the samples, “the environment was found to be contaminated by sarin,” its by-products, and “other relevant chemicals, such as stabilizers.”
Blood, urine and hair samples from 34 patients who had signs of poisoning by a chemical compound provided “definitive evidence of exposure to sarin by almostSFlball of the survivors assessed.”
More than 50 interviews with survivors and health care workers “provided ample corroboration of the medical and scientific results.”
Source: Associated Press