Amesbury poisoning: Novichok’s obscurity is making cleanup harder, scientists say

Inspectors are taking soil and vegetation samples as portable detectors are unable to identify the nerve agent

The relative obscurity of the novichok nerve agent until its use in the poisoning of four people in Wiltshire may be making the search and cleanup of any remaining traces more difficult, scientists say.

Portable monitoring devices which can detect various nerve agents are not set up to look for novichok substances because “they were not considered likely chemical weapons” when the devices were designed.

These devices are used by the military and weapons inspectors to find traces of substances like mustard or sarin gas in the air or around the site of a weapon’s use.

Without them the inspectors are having to take soil and vegetation samples in the areas visited by the victims before testing them manually in a laboratory to ensure all traces are removed.

“There is no specific method for detection for novichoks in the environment,” Professor Alastair Hay, an expert in environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said.

“There are chemical agent monitors for various nerve agents which can be used, but nothing which will identify novichoks as they were not considered likely chemical weapons when the monitors were designed.”

Around 100 counterterror detectives are working on the case and have cordoned off parts of Salisbury and nearby Amesbury where Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were found collapsed.

The pair were apparently poisoned accidentally by traces of the nerve agent used in what British authorities say was an attempt to assassinate former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, along with his daughter Yulia, earlier this year.

Chemical agent monitors (CAMs) are used by the military or weapons inspectors to detect vapour traces given off by the chemical weapons as they break down.

This might also make them unsuitable in the case of novichok as the chemical is known to be very stable and remains active long after us, which is part of the reason it takes so long for its victims to recover.

Detectors for VX, the nerve agent used to poison North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother, rely on picking up traces of chemicals which have reacted with the substance, as it also does not form vapours.

Other devices are able to sample these “involatile” nerve agents, which don’t form vapours on their own, by heating up samples and swabs to release the chemicals and make them detectable, Professor Hay revealed.

While effective detectors require a precise picture for novichok, less specific detectors do exist and could flag substances with a similar molecular make-up to the chemical weapon – which is largely phosphorus-based.

“But [that] would give false positives if there were any other phosphorus-containing chemicals in the area being sampled,” Professor Hay told The Independent.

Dr Chris Morris, from the Medical Toxicology Centre at Newcastle University told The Independent: “We’ve got detectors that will pick up organophosphorus compounds, whether they will pick up novichok is another matter.

“A portable detector will pick up ‘I’ve got something nasty’ which is an organophosphorus compound, and it may point to a specific compound such as sarin or VX.

“Then you would take that sample away, analyse it and confirm it.”