Geneva – The Swiss Government on Friday said that there is still no information about the illegal use by Damascus of isopropanol imported from Switzerland to Syria.
A spokesperson of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in the Swiss Government disclosed this.
However, Bern would strengthen control over supplies of this substance, earlier in the week.
Swiss media reported that in 2014 Bern authorised exports of five tonnes of isopropanol that could be used to produce the poisonous sarin gas.
“Up to now, no signs of misuse of isopropanol have been detected,’’ Fabian Maienfisch said.
Maienfisch said that Syria had announced about its chemical weapons programme in 2013 and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, adding that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had confirmed that the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons had been completed.
“As opposed to the European Union that had prohibited exports of isopropanol to Syria because of the anti-Syria sanctions, Switzerland has standardised exports of this production by a law.
“The export of these products from Switzerland is not prohibited until there are no signs of its illegal use,’’ the spokesperson added.
According to the official, no instructions prohibiting exports existed when isopropanol was exported to the Middle Eastern state, but the SECO would not give permissions for such exports in future and the export policy would be tougher in future.
Isopropanol is widely used in chemical industry for production of disinfecting agents, cosmetics, household chemicals and anti-freezes among others.
However it could also be used in production of the sarin gas. (Sputnik/NAN)
