A United Kingdom inquiry looking into the 2018 death of Dawn Sturgess has brought Novichok into the news once again.
Novichok is an incredibly powerful poison implicated in a series of murders over decades. It is spritzed onto everyday items like umbrellas, phones, and door handles.
The Briefing takes a look at what Novichok is and why it is being used as a murder weapon:
In the case of Sturgess, she sprayed herself with a bottle of perfume that turned out to be laced with the deadly nerve agent.
But where did this potent poison come from, and how exactly does it kill someone?
Doctor Ian Musgrave, a senior lecturer at the School of Biomedicine at the University of Adelaide, joins Bension Siebert on The Briefing to unpack the toxicology behind the headline.
Dr Musgrave said Novichok stops the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine. An excess of acetylcholine causes a person’s heart rate to plummet, and breathing becomes more difficult because the respiratory muscles no longer respond.
“In terms of inhalation, you need less than a milligram per meter cubed of air,” Dr Musgrave said.
“Typically, the person applying [Novichok would wear] special gloves because they can get through gloves.
“They’d have special gloves and use a special applicator. In the case in England (Sturgess’ case), it looks like it was stored in a spray bottle and used to to spray surfaces that would allow people to touch it and come into contact with it.: