U.S. Approved Sale of Atropine
Iraq Imported Millions of Doses Of Antidote for Nerve Agents
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 12, 2002; Page
A01
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 11 --
With U.S. approval, Iraq
imported more than 3.5 million
vials of the drug atropine over
the past five years, despite
concerns that it could be used
to inoculate Iraqi soldiers
participating in chemical
warfare, according to U.N.
sources and confidential U.N.
documents.
Between late 1997 and
November 2001, French,
Russian and Italian companies
signed at least five contracts
through the U.N. oil-for-food
program to sell Iraq more than
3.5 million ampuls of the nerve
agent antidote, which is also
used to treat heart attacks.
More than 2 million units of
the drug have already been
delivered to Baghdad, U.N.
sources said. The rest is
awaiting delivery.
The disclosure comes as the
United States is struggling to
convince the U.N. Security
Council to place new
restrictions on the sale of the
drug because of Pentagon
concerns that the Iraqi army
may use the drug to protect its
soldiers if it mounts a chemical
attack against U.S. troops.
On Tuesday, John R. Bolton,
undersecretary of State for
arms control and international
security, listed atropine and
the antibiotic ciprofloxacin
(also known as Cipro), among
36 categories of items that
should be subject to U.N.
Security Council scrutiny
before they can be shipped to
Iraq. In 1999, a Jordanian firm,
Arab Pharmaceutical
Manufacturing Co. Ltd., sold
Iraq an unknown quantity of
Cipro, a broad spectrum
antibiotic that is used to treat
exposure to anthrax and a host
of other infections, according to
U.N. documents.
Until May, the United States
had the right to prohibit or
monitor sales of atropine to
Iraq but rarely exercised it. The
United States relinquished its
authority as part of a council
agreement to ease restrictions
on the import of civilian goods
into Iraq.
The Pentagon became alarmed
about the potential military
uses of atropine after
discovering that Turkey had
been approached by Iraq to
supply it with massive
quantities of atropine and
auto-injectors, which are
designed to treat victims of
pesticide or nerve agent
poisoning. A senior Turkish
official said that Ankara is
investigating the report, which
was first disclosed in the New
York Times. Until now,
however, it was not known that
Iraq had succeeded in buying
supplies of atropine or that
they were obtained through
the U.N.-sanctioned oil-for-food
program.
U.N. officials said the
quantities of atropine
purchased by Iraq were
consistent with dosages used
for medical purposes. More
than 3.4 million vials, the vast
majority, contained
0.6-milligram doses of atropine sulfate, an amount typically used to speed up
the heart rate of heart attack victims.
Chemical warfare experts said a dose of 2 milligrams is typically administered
to victims of nerve agents or pesticide poisoning. On the battlefield, they said,
the drug would probably be administered with auto-injectors. U.N. officials
said Iraq has never imported auto-injectors through the oil-for-food program,
which permits Iraq to sell oil in exchange for food, medicine and humanitarian
goods.
"The advantage of an auto-injector is that somebody can give one to himself, he
can give it to his buddy right there. It doesn't require medical care," said
Frederick R. Sidell, a retired U.S. Army expert on chemical warfare. But Sidell
said that the lower doses used for heart treatment could be easily converted to
military uses if administered with a common needle and syringe. "You just give
three times as much. For any casualty who is mildly exposed it might be
enough."
The United States has cited the Turkey case to underscore the importance of
preventing Iraq from obtaining a host of items that could be used to develop
long-range missiles and chemical, biological and conventional weapons. Those
items, which are listed in the document Bolton presented council members,
include global positioning systems, radio intercept devices, night vision
technology and communications jamming equipment.
Asked why the United States had not previously added atropine or
auto-injectors to the list of items requiring Security Council review, John D.
Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said, "I honestly don't
know the answer." But he said that the United States has received a
commitment from the other council members to consider placing new
restrictions on them before the end of the month.
Russia and France have signaled that they are willing to add atropine and
some other items to the United Nations' 302-page list of dual-use products
that require Security Council scrutiny. But they have made it clear that they
want other items taken off the list. Russia, for instance, has proposed easing
restrictions on trucks that it sells to Iraq.
A spokeswoman at the U.N. Office of the Iraq Program, which overseas all sales
to Iraq through the oil-for-food program, declined to name the companies that
sold the medicines to Iraq. But confidential U.N. documents and U.N. sources
revealed that the Italian company Alfa Intes Industria Terapeutica Splendore
signed a contract to sell about 3,000 ampuls of atropine sulfate to Iraq in late
1997.
The French pharmaceutical company Laboratoires Renaudin sold nearly one
million ampuls of atropine to Iraq in July 2000. A more recent shipment of 1.5
million ampuls of atropine from French and Russian sources was placed on
hold by the United States, but it was then approved under the recent
procedures without any plans for monitoring its use. It was approved in
October and is awaiting delivery to Iraq.
"If a particular item is not on the goods review list, the contract gets approved,"
said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.N. Monitoring Verification and
Inspection Commission, which is responsible for reviewing contracts.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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