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JERUSALEM -- The best available protection against nerve
gas attack comes from an Israeli-made synthetic equivalent
of marijuana, U.S. military experiments have shown.
In U.S. Army tests, rats injected with Dexanabinol, a
chemical substitute for hashish, were more than 70 percent
less likely to suffer epileptic seizures or brain damage
after exposure to sarin and other nerve gases, according to
results published in the Israeli press Thursday.
The drug was developed by an Israeli pharmaceutical
firm, Pharmos, to treat head injuries and strokes, but now
it looks likely to become part of the standard chemical
warfare kit carried by NATO troops after the results of the
tests were announced at a conference in Maryland last
month.
Dr. Anat Biagon, deputy director-general for research at
Pharmos, told the newspaper Ha'aretz: ``Dexanabinol can be
used as part of the standard treatment in an attack using
nerve gas, along with atropin The drug can diminish nerve
damage of the kind we witnessed in Gulf War syndrome.''
It is thought to interact with neural receptors in the
brain in the same way as marijuana, and thereby block the
damaging effects of nerve agents.
The U.S. tests suggest it's effective as an antidote and
as a preventative measure. So far, tests have only been
carried out on rodents, but experiments on humans are
expected to be the next stage.
Until then, no one can be sure whether Dexanabinol has
the same mellowing side-effects as organic marijuana.
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