Cyanide Enough to Kill Hundreds of People Disappears from Japanese Lab

Japan's Osaka University announced that a quantity of potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide that could kill 160 to 250 people has disappeared from its laboratory.

What's more dangerous is that this loss went undetected for nearly a year.

Osaka City University said about 25 grams of each of the highly toxic substances went missing from the laboratory of the Graduate School of Engineering at the Sugimoto campus in Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka.

In addition to the possibility that the chemicals were accidentally discarded, the school is concerned about the possibility of theft. The school is currently discussing the matter with local police.

School officials said the two chemicals were stored in small bottles in a locked toxicology cabinet and were last inspected on June 28, 2023.

From April 30 to May 2, the laboratory manager conducted a comprehensive inspection of the toxic chemical stock, and discovered that the above chemicals had disappeared.

As of June 2023, 22 faculty and students may have used the special box containing the key to the storage locker. The names of those who opened the box, along with the date and time, were recorded. In addition, anyone who had access to these chemicals was required to record the quantity and purpose of use.

When interviewed by the school, all 22 people mentioned above had no knowledge of the missing chemicals.

According to school records, the two poisons have not been used since 2010.