Effects
At sufficient concentrations, blood agents can quickly saturate the blood and cause death in a matter of minutes or seconds. They cause powerful gasping for breath, violent convulsions and a painful death that can take several minutes. The immediate cause of death is usually respiratory failure.
Blood agents work at the cellular level by preventing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the blood and the body's cells. This causes the cells to suffocate from lack of oxygen. Cyanide-based agents do so by interrupting the electron transport chain in the inner membranes of mitochondria. Arsine damages the red blood cells which deliver oxygen throughout the body.
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—George Orwell (1903–1950)
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—Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)