Aum Shinrikyo was a group founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987 with the ultimate intention of overthrowing the Japanese government, using religion, stores, and at one point a rock band, as sources of finance (BBC 2008). Eventually gaining enough funds, Asahara was able to acquire property west of Tokyo serve as Aum Shinrikyo’s HQ. It was at the HQ compound that Aum Shinrikyo scientists began experimenting with chemical and biological agents, to include “Anthrax, Cholera, Ebola, and … Sarin nerve gas” (BBC 2008). It was the latter agent that the group decided to utilize on Japan.

In 1994, the group tested the Sarin gas they developed in Matsumoto, killing seven and injuring one-hundred and fifty (BBC 2008). In their 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway system, however, they punctured packages of liquid Sarin. The few casualties and thousands of injured persons can be attributed to the fact that their produced sarin was not in a gaseous form, as is most effective for its dispersal. A few days after the attack, the group’s HQ was raided, finding enough ingredients to “kill more than four million people” (BBC 2008). …show more content…
The components of Sarin are of little doubt to be on material watch lists in the US. Additionally, the process of manufacturing sarin requires dedicated equipment unique to the chemical industry and chemical weapons production; the chemical industry in the United States is fairly-well regulated by the national government, to include the Department of Transportation. Due to the price and technical knowledge required to produce effective Sarin, along with its distinct medical effects, it is unlikely that Sarin will be used in a domestic attack over conventional means of attack. If anything, it warrants closer inspection and regulation to prevent its development within the private sector chemical