Sarnoff Perfects New Injector Of Antidote for 'Nerve Gas'

A young Medical School professor has developed a fully automatic method for injecting atropine, the only know antidote for deadly "nerve gas," into the bloodstream.

Stanley J. Sarnoff, associate professor of Physiology at the School of Public Health, with the assistance of his wife, Charlotte, and design engineer David M. Potter, experimented with 30 different models of automatic syringes before coming up with a satisfactory model.

The task of finding ways to combat the effects of nerve gas has occupied doctors at the Army Chemical Center, near Baltimore, Md., since the end of world War Two.

During the war, the Germans had perfected a gas which destroys an enzyme called cholinesterase, a substance that ordinarily works as a "brake" for the nervous system. Without this controlling agent, the nerves stimulate the body's muscles into convulsive activity. Severe exposure results in paralysis and eventually death.

The idea of such a gas is not new, as a weaker version has long been used in insecticides. The gas developed by the Germans, however, was far more potent than any produced previously.

Although the Nazis did not use the gas in the last war in fear of reprisal, American military experts are sure that in case of a surprise attack by an aggressor, nerve gas will be used along with atomic or hydrogen bombs in an effort to produce the greatest possible confusion among victims.

Russian Head Start

The Russians enjoyed an initial head start in research on methods both for spreading and fighting the gas. By late 1951, however, America was able to hurt an attacker far more than she could be injured.

In their search for an antidote, Army doctors found atropine, a derivative of belladonna, a deadly poison, in 1947-48. Still, two problems plagued the Army: preventing panic and administering the antidote efficiently in cast of a raid.

Panic prevention was a matter of time and education.

The antidote atropine, however, had to be injected into the blood stream within ten minutes after exposure in order to be effective.

Hypodermics available at the time were complicated, fragile, and expensive, so the Army enlisted many scientists in the search for better injectors.

The Sarnoffs first became interested in the problem in 1951. They rejected the semi-automatic injectors then in use as too cumbersome and complicated, but it took them two years and 31 different models to find a more efficient atropine injector, which they dubbed "The Ace."

Clear from the Start

Sarnoff, in looking back over the two years of research, said that the basic outlines of the device that proved satisfactory were clear from the start.

"It had to be all in one piece," he explained. "The victims of nerve gas raid would probably be panic stricken, or at least in too great a hurry to put together a hypodermic needle with anything like the professional skill and speed needed.

"We solved that by making the Ace all in one piece, It consists of a cardboard cylinder with the needle inside, and an attachment much like the ring of a hand grenade on the outside."

He explained that the ring solved the second requirement set up by the Army. When not in use, the needle must be protected, and a person carrying it must be protected, and a person carrying it must be protected from accidental discharge of the needle. Yet, when needed, it must be "armed" quickly.

Sarnoff describes the process of injection as follows: "First, pull the ring. This releases the spring, which we put there to solve another difficulty. Some people just can't puncture themselves with a needle. With the Ace, they don't even see the needle.

"Next place the business end against your body where you want the injection. A little pressure will cause the spring to send the needle deep into the skin, even through bulky clothing, and the needle automatically to discharge the atropine into the bloodstream."

"The requirements seemed comparatively simple, but problems of design and cost really gave us trouble," Sarnoff commented. This spring, the Sarnoffs showed a few hand-made models to the Army, which ordered 2000 of them for immediate testing.

At the Army's Medical Replacement Training Center at Camp Pickett, Va., 1000 recruits compared the Ace and the "Ampin," a semi-automatic device perfected in 1948. After detailed training in the use of both devices, the recruits were divided into three groups.

One group injected themselves once with each device in a private, well-lighted room. Another group did the same in darkness. A third performed under simulated battle conditions. The injectors were used right through clothing, just as in a real battle.

Results favored the Ace overwhelmingly: over ninety percent of the recruits said they preferred it is case of a raid.

Civil Defense authorities expressed interest in the Sarnoffs' new device, and planned to mass produce the Ace, to make it available to every citizen.

Chief obstacle to their plans proved to be finances. Civil Defense authorities estimate that there will be only 500,000 injectors produced this year, primarily due to a lack of money.

Panic Defeated

Despite these checks, officials are confident that eventually the program will be a success, and that the major objective of nerve gas, mass panic and destruction of the will to resist, will be defeated.

Dr. Thomas H. Alphin, Chemical Warfare Consultant of the Civil Defense administration, says, "Because of the speed and simplicity of the Ace injector, the saving of thousands who would otherwise succumb will be possible.