UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Potentially hazardous chemicals mistakenly shipped from an Iraqi chemical weapons plant have been found in a UN building but experts insisted Thursday that they posed no immediate risk.
UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said that while winding down their activities, United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) inspectors discovered "gram quantities of certain liquid substances including phosgene (COCl2)," which she described as "potentially hazardous."
The metal and glass containers were first located last Friday at the UNMOVIC office near the UN headquarters.
But it was only Wednesday that an inventory of the items was recovered and showed that one of the items may contain phosgene suspended in oil, which an UNMOVIC statement called "an old generation chemical warfare agent."
Phosgene is a colorless, poisonous industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides. It was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent.
With cooling and pressure, phosgene gas can be converted into a liquid so that it can be shipped and stored. When liquid phosgene is released, it quickly turns into a gas that stays close to the ground and spreads rapidly, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.
Okabe said the UNMOVIC office area was screened with chemical weapons detection equipment and no toxic vapors were found.
She later told reporters that three containers containing the chemicals were turned over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation Thursday afternoon for analysis.
UNMOVIC said in a statement that an initial probe revealed that the substances had been recovered from a former Iraqi chemical weapons facility, Al Muthanna, by inspectors in 1996.
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