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Video May Show Use of Nerve Gas
Aired August 19, 2002 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we want to focus more now on what we saw on the exclusive terror tape obtained by CNN. Some experts tell CNN that a white cloud of gas that later killed that dog, it may have been sarin, a nerve gas.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us live now with more on this agent. We don't really know what it was.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is right.
LIN: But we clearly saw the result on that dog.
GUPTA: Right.
LIN: It went into convulsions.
GUPTA: You know, we panned over -- the camera panned over just to the point where you saw this gas actually being released. You never actually got a chance to see what it looked like, where it was coming from, things like that. But what you did see were some of the effects on the dog.
And I have got an animation. I just want to describe, when we talk about nerve agents, we are specifically talking about a special compound known as organophosphates. That is the same stuff you see in insecticides. You see it there being breathed into the lungs. What happens there, it quickly gets into the blood stream and goes to your neurons. They are firing at a normal rate, then seem to really speed up, three to four times the rate as before, and that can cause all sorts of different problems in the body.
We saw some of those in the dog. Increased salvation, the dog actually probably had blurry vision from the pupils being constricted, and then actually had a convulsion, you saw that as well, Carol. Inability to breathe. That is probably what caused the forced yelping, the actual yelping when the diaphragm just couldn't move any more, coma and subsequently death. That all took place over minutes. That is not a typical for an organophosphate, an insecticide, but the same sort of stuff that you would find in nerve agents. Sarin is one that you mentioned. VX gas is another one that we have been hearing more and more about. Probably not that because that would have taken effect much more quickly. But what you said is absolutely right. We don't know for sure, this is a possibility.
LIN: Any antidotes?
GUPTA: Well, there are -- this is something we have learned quite a bit about over time. When it comes to nerve agents, they have used in the military, they have been used in wars, things like that. We do have some things that rescue personnel, we typically use. Rescuers must avoid exposure. That is an important point, maybe an obvious one. You don't want to be performing mouth to mouth resuscitation on people who have just been exposed to nerve gas. Why? Because you yourself could then get exposed through the lungs of the person who was recently exposed. Obviously, get the victims to fresh air. Get them to an emergency room. CPR -- that is, trying to keep the heart beating may be necessary. But Carol, to answer your question, there are some antidotes. Atropine is almost the exact opposite of what these nerve agents do. If you can get atropine into the bloodstream quickly, it could possibly reverse this. Also, pralidoxime chloride is another possible antidote. Atropine is something that is located in most hospitals. You go to just about any hospital, and hospitals have atropine. Military personnel who are possibly high risk for these nerve agents oftentimes carry that on their person to inject themselves if the need arises.
LIN: Well, this dog died in a matter of minutes, so does this mean that if al Qaeda is on the move, and working on chemical weapons, does it call for atropine or an antidote to be placed in big buildings even like ours?
GUPTA: I think that is a very fair question. I think it is something that is more of a threat assessment than it is a medical assessment, but yes, you are absolutely right. Time is very crucial which it comes to actually trying to get the atropine into the body. If you can get it in quick enough, you can save lives. If it takes more than 10 minutes, as we saw in this particular video, it can be a real problem.
LIN: All right. Well, let's hope we never have to face that danger.
GUPTA: Exactly.
LIN: Thank you very much, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Good seeing you, Carol.
LIN: All right. We are getting more reaction from around the world as well as from the administration itself. President Bush on vacation in Crawford, Texas, but John King has been talking with some officials there -- John, what is the reaction to what they are seeing on these videotapes on CNN?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. The White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer came to speak to us just a moment ago, and he said what you see on these videotapes is, in Ari Fleischer's words, -- quote -- "a vivid reminder to the American people and people around the world, of the enemy we face in this war on terrorism." Now Mr. Fleischer said that President Bush was -- quote -- "well briefed" on what we have aired in the tapes today. He could not say for certain whether the president had watched any of those reports. He is checking in on that question. Ari Fleischer going on to say that -- quote -- "this is a serious reminder of the type of enemy we are up against, and the risks the world faces from people who would use weapons that bring harm to innocents. It vividly illustrates what terrorism means and the threat it poses."
Other senior administration officials saying the tapes that we are showing today reinforcing things they have known and suspected about al Qaeda for some time. They also, Carol, though are making this distinction. They say these tapes show what al Qaeda was, what it was plotting, the hideous things it was thinking. They also say, though, that because of the president's war on terrorism, al Qaeda and those operations no longer exist inside Afghanistan, and that is one reason why the U.S. military continues to look for weapons caches and clean up operations inside Afghanistan, including still hunting down al Qaeda members, and why the president places such urgency when he urges other countries around the world not to let al Qaeda regroup and try to start doing these things again somewhere else -- Carol.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Senior White House Correspondent John King in Crawford, Texas.
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