VG (nerve agent)

VG (also called Amiton or Tetram) is a "V-series" nerve agent closely related to the better-known VX nerve gas. Tetram is the common Russian name for the substance. Amiton is the trade name for the substance when sold as a pesticide. It was brought to market in 1954 by ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries). This commercial application predates large scale military production of VX. (http://www.mitretek.org/home.nsf/Homelandsecurity/HistoryNerveGases)

Due to severe toxicity and weapons proliferations issues, it is not in current use as a pesticide, although it is thought that North Korea may have military stockpiles. (http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/NK/Chemical/50_1068.html)

Like most of the agents in the V-series (with the exception of VX), VG has not been extensively studied outside of military science. Little is known about this compound other than its chemical formula.

It is commonly theorized that the so called "second-generation" V series agents came from a cold war era Russian chemical weapons development program. They may have been deveoped sometime between 1950 and 1990. They have similar lethal dose levels to VX (between 10-50 mg) and have similar symptoms and method of action to other nerve agents that act on cholinesterase, and treatment remains the same, but the window for effectively treating second generation V series seizures is shorter. In addition to the standard seizures, some of the second generation V series agents are known to cause coma.