Is there a thread about the poisoning of Skripal? [title edited by MNHQ]

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I've not seen a thread about it at all, but surely there must be?

When Corbyn suggested that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be called in to test the samples, he was slated across the media and in Parliament/Gov for daring to question Mays assertions, now Boris announces that the samples will indeed be tested by the OPCW

The policeman who came in contact with the toxicity- where did he encounter it - at the scene where Skripal and his daughter were found or at their home ?
What about the First Responders ? Have they been affected ?
Was the ambulance taken out of use for decontamination ?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/corbyn-not-given-access-to-top-secret-information-qmj55f263

Eloise sparkle
As far as I know the policeman was just at the house and didn’t visit the scene at all.
I think they are saying no other people have been affected although they are monitoring some.

I would really like to know more about how Detective Sergeant came to be suffering effects (also like to know how he is of course ) Was he at the scene where the Skripals were discovered ? I thought he wasn't but went to the house ?

I have heard that it was both. The DS was in attendance at the bench, but then ID was found on Sergei, and he then went to the house, as the symptoms observed in the couple were thought to be drugs related, at first.

If the letter from Steven Davies, the Consultant at Salisbury Hospital, is accurate, and there is no reason to think otherwise, then that is quite odd, given the stringent measures put in place, and still to be seen in Salisbury. It's good (not for the poor people who were affected, obviously) if wider contamination has not occurred, but doesn't quite add up, because we have been led to believe that a powerful nerve agent has been found in some concentration at several locations in Salisbury which would have been in constant use by the public for a good 24 hours after the events on Sunday.

So powerful that staff uniforms were burnt and the table, where the Skripals had been sitting, was destroyed, and anywhere or anything where the couple were, and vehicles which had had any contact with them or with their vehicle have been cordoned off or impounded, and powerful enough to render seriously ill, the DS who had contact with them/their house.

Yet the agent appears to have been reassuringly contained, as far as collateral damage to any other people is concerned.

Strange.

Yes. Donkey. I wonder if it’s been downplayed.
Why are they not saying to people in Salisbury who may have had a low level of exposure.
Have you got any of these symptoms? I don’t know what they might be, disturbance of vision, headaches, weakness?....!
You might think youve had some kind of virus but if you were exposed you could have long term neurological problems, Parkinson’s and so on.

Yes. Donkey. I wonder if it’s been downplayed.
Why are they not saying to people in Salisbury who may have had a low level of exposure.
Have you got any of these symptoms?

They have done this! I heard it on the news yesterday or maybe Friday. Iifc, 150 people who MAY have come into contact with this agent, are being phoned every day by a nurse.

All this info is out there if you look for it.

Was the ambulance taken out of use for decontamination ?

Yes that has been done.

Thanks Lizzie. I have seen those reports but thought that 130 people had come forward rather than being sought out which is what I was getting at really.
Initially it was reported that 21 people were treated in hospital. Mostly policemen/ first responders.

The ambulances were decontaminated twice and then wrapped up and taken away. They got some normal use in between the decontaminations.

There appears to be two more ambulances labelled up ready to be dealt with.

You might think youve had some kind of virus but if you were exposed you could have long term neurological problems, Parkinson’s and so on.

That's been my concern all along, nursy, widespread low level contamination which may take years to manifest any symptoms.

Stephen Davies (Consultant) states in his letter that
"None has had symptoms of poisoning and none has needed treatment. Any blood tests performed have shown no abnormality."

Low level exposure may not show up straight away, as nursy said. And would Salisbury Hospital have the facilities to do blood tests for traces of nerve agent? I'm genuinely asking, as I don't know what's involved.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222849

there is inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an association does or does not exist between exposure to sarin at low doses insufficient to cause acute cholinergic signs and symptoms and subsequent long-term adverse health effects.

A really good paper, looks at nerve agents, organophosphates, sarin in humans (Japanese subway, war veterans, industrial accidents etc ) and animal testing but has to conclude that nobody knows. Blood test would not expect to show at low levels.

Are the Russians still in Salisbury hospital? Most verifiable reports only mention A&E.

Also Yulia is a Russian national, medical staff / somebody should have contacted the consulate.

I may need to tin hat.

Why are they not saying to people in Salisbury who may have had a low level of exposure.
Have you got any of these symptoms? I don’t know what they might be, disturbance of vision, headaches, weakness?....!

Probably because they know that would result in large numbers of people besieging their GPs and A&E, asking to be tested for possible nerve agent poisoning. I imagine one of the aims at the outset was to reassure and pre-empt any signs of panic. (Heaven forbid that people should worry at the thought of having been possibly contaminated with a highly toxic substance).

Thanks for the link, pestilential. It will make interesting reading. Completely off the point, but my mother, who was in the Women's Land Army, always put certain conditions ( peripheral neuropathy, for one) and symptoms she developed in later life down to exposure to some sort of pest control spray they had had to administer to cherry trees, completely unprotected, with the spray being blown over them by the wind. All the workers involved developed huge blisters on their legs, which they did recover from, but who knows what damage had been done? She was always gently pooh-poohed if she ever mentioned this theory to doctors, and unfortunately had no idea of the toxin involved.

All points to this accusation being an attempt to interfere with the Russian elections. Probably backfired; but face- saving actions are now digging a bigger hole for us.

Listened to Boris Johnson speaking with Marr, briefly today, and all I could think about was the bare-faced lies Boris told to persuade the country to jump off the cliff-edge called Brexit.

Who are you suggesting is interfering in the Russian elections, counterpoint?

Are you talking about this:

John Simpson
Verified account
@JohnSimpsonNews
Mar 6
More
A friend of murdered Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko says apparent attack on ex-FSB spy Sergei Skripal is linked to Russian election on 18 March. Low turnout will be a threat to Putin - Western anger will bring out the vote.

No, I'm not saying John Simpson is behind the attempts to discredit Putin and interfere in the Russian elections.

Fine dodge there, counterpoint.

I'm asking whether you are suggesting that Putin is attempting to interfere in the Russian election.

150 people who MAY have come into contact with this agent, are being phoned every day by a nurse. All this info is out there if you look for it.

How can they possibly know it is confined to 150 people? What about people who may have brushed against the Skirpal's car in Sainsbury's car park, or used the ticket machine in the car park? What about money which may have been left on the table at Zizzi's as a tip, or counted out on the table prior to payment, which could be in circulation anywhere, the loos they might have used while at the Mill or the restaurant? we shouldn't forget that no cordons were put in place until at least 24 hours after the Skripals had been around Salisbury, so people using the restaurant and pub in the meantime were none the wiser.

No-one has said (or knows, maybe?) how long it is before the agent starts to deteriorate.

Do you feel that Putin would be "discredited" by the discovery that he had in anyway influenced or permitted (even negligently) the attempted murder of Skripal?

And do you feel he was "discredited" by the murder of Litvinenko?

Or do these things play differently to his domestic audience?

They have been saying that if you feel at all unwell and were in the area get checked out though. I don’t think they’ve tried to avoid getting A&E or GPs swamped. If anything they seem to have done the opposite.Leaving it as broad as possible knowing they are going to be trying to find the people who are sick amongst those who aren’t.

However it was administered it doesn’t it doesn’t seem to have shed enough that most people who came into contact with the Skirpal’s or anything they might have touched a large enough dose to make them acutely ill immediately. I’m not sure about what that says about the car door handle theory though.

I'm afraid my experience of living and working in Salisbury, and talking to others, is not as described above. All we have been hearing is that there is a very low risk, and the inference is that contaminated items and areas are all now contained.

I think that's downplaying it, if the local population has indeed been exposed to a deadly nerve agent .

Donkey thanks for expanding on the where the DS is understood to have had contact with the stuff .

I do feel that risk to the general population is being downplayed .

Actions taken with regard to ambulances and cars seem quite extreme - wasn't the tow truck that removed the car also being treated ? - compared with those taken re general public .

Yes, the tow truck was impounded, lametta.

And it's not so much the people in the immediate area I'm thinking about, Rafals, because of course if you were in the area you'd be on the alert. It's the people who may not be aware that they may have been in contact (through clothing, money, etc.) with the agent. And also, as previously discussed, you can still have been affected, whilst not displaying any symptoms.