Nerve Gas Discovered at United Nations Building?

Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 9:52:38 am PDT

According to ABC News, UN weapons inspectors have finally discovered some weapons of mass destruction—at a United Nations building in Manhattan: Nerve Gas Scare at U.N. Headquarters.

United Nations weapons inspectors discovered six to eight vials of a dangerous nerve gas, phosgene, as they were cleaning out offices at a U.N. building in New York this morning, federal authorities tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The federal authorities said the office, in a U.N. building near headquarters, was being evacuated and the White House had been notified at 10 a.m. New York police and fire officials reported to the scene around 12:15 this afternoon. A U.N. spokesperson said a statement would be issued shortly.

Authorities said the phosgene was believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991.

Former U.N. weapons inspectors told ABCNews.com that vials of phosgene had also been used by inspectors in Iraq to help calibrate air sampling instruments.

The former inspectors said the remaining vials were supposed to have been destroyed.

“If it is properly sealed, it should not pose much of a threat unless it is dropped,” said former New York City emergency services director Jerry Hauer, an ABC News consultant. [The understatement of the year. – ed.]

“They need to get it out of there and put it in a safe canister,” Hauer said. “It shows immense stupidity to have that kind of thing sitting around as a souvenir.”

Stupidity? Maybe so, but it could also have been something much worse.

UPDATE at 8/30/07 10:02:35 am:

Phosgene is not a “nerve gas,” as ABC’s Blotter reported; it’s technically classified as a “nettle agent” used in chemical warfare. More info at the CDC: Facts About Phosgene.