ODOR – None, slight odor of rotten fish when impure
APPEARANCE – Thick pale amber liquid, similar in appearance to 20 weight motor oil
SOLUBILITY – 1 gram in 32 grams water (3% solution by weight)
MEDIAN INCAPACITATING DOSAGE (ID50) – 30 mg-min/m3 inhalation
MEDIAN LETHAL DOSAGE (LD50) – Less than 5 mg-min/m3 liquid on skin
PERSISTENCY – Highly persistent, 2 to 6 months without decomposition
INHALATION TOXICITY – Extremely toxic, but not as toxic as absorption through skin or eyes
SKIN TOXICITY – Non-toxic to skin tissue, can penetrate intact skin over time, immediately penetrates any wound, abrasion, or cut
EYE TOXICITY – Extremely toxic, immediate penetration of vapor or liquid
RATE OF ACTION – Very rapid
SYMPTOMS (PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION) – Inhibits breakdown of acetylcholine in the body, interrupting nerve signals, causes contraction of the pupils of the eyes, excessive mucus, tears, saliva, and sweat, nausea, gastrointestinal paid=n, & vomiting, Constriction of the bronchial passages and chest tightness, spasms, convulsions, coma and death.
PROTECTION – Full gas mask with hood, impermeable clothing and overboots.
DECONTAMINATION – Wash contaminated area down with strong bleach slurry, dilute alkali
USE – Aerial spray tanks, artillery and mortar projectiles, rockets, land mines, aerial bombs
As happened in Germany prior to WWII, VX was discovered by a chemist working at the Plant Protection Laboratory of Imperial Chemical Industries while searching for a new insecticide. The discovery with formulas, samples, and other information, were sent to the British military laboratory at Porton Down. The British were already committed to producing either Tabun or Sarin and sent the new materials on the new agent on to Canada and the United States. It became known as VX, standing for Venomous Agent X, and extremely toxic chemical weapon. Production of the new chemical weapon was started in the United States in 1961.
VX is intended to cause the majority of its casualties by skin absorption from the mist formed by aerial sprays and bursting-type munitions. It will cause death from inhalation, though the vapors are heavier than air and the agent is not very volatile, if the casualties are close to a large amount of the liquid. There were several accidents involving agent VX in the United States and on Okinawa. In the US in 1968, a VX leak in Dugway, Utah spread out from the military testing area into the surrounding countryside. In the process of the accident nearly 6,000 sheep were killed. A container of VX leaked on Okinawa during the summer of 1969 with no known casualties. President Nixon signed an Executive order in November of 1969 intended to halt US production of chemical weapons as well as their development.
VX has one very unusual action taken with it. The nerve agent was used to assassinate Kim Jong Nam (brother to Kim Jong Un of North Korea) on 13 Feb 2017. A woman, wearing proper protection for her skin, brushed her fingers across the cheek of Kim Jong Nam. There was a coating of VX on the woman’s fingers, which contaminated and killed her target. The only known assassination committed with VX as the weapon. It was reportedly used by the Aum Shinrikyo cult during their terrorist attacks in Japan in the 1995-1995 time period.
