Possible Poison Gas at U.N.

So that’s where Iraq was hiding its weapons . . .

CNN is reporting that United Nations archivists unexpectedly found vials allegedly containing a poisonous gas in a U.N. office building in New York today. The workers, from the U.N. chemical weapons agency UNMOVIC, found the vials in weapons inspectors’ files from the 1990s. They say the vials appear to contain samples of the gas phosgene, obtained from an Iraqi chemical weapons plant. A U.N. spokesperson said tests found no toxins in the offices where the vials were found.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, phosgene was used as a choking agent during WWI and caused most of the war’s gas deaths. It becomes poisonous at room temperature, but can be safely stored and transported under appropriate cooling and pressure.

Still sounds like a heck of a workplace liability to me.