Mystery in Iran: what is known about the poisoning of women in schools

It’s been just over two weeks since the mysterious poisonings began in numerous women’s schools in Iran. In the midst of a context of scarce information and with zero chances of verification, dozens of versions have emerged about what happened. From radical sectors that are opposed to the education of women to groups that are carrying out a massive joke, the suspicions do not seem to leave anyone out.

Faced with a scenario of little information available on official channels (some Iranian officials have even suggested that the whole thing is a Western-led operation), Nature magazine launched an investigation with the intention of drawing a picture of what could be happening in Iran.

Based on interviews with toxicologists, epidemiologists, chemical weapons experts and specialists in Iranian politics, the publication goes through the crucial questions that run through the issue, from the facts themselves to the possible explanations that could be offered to clarify what is happening.

There is little information about the poisoned girls in Iran. Photo: REUTERS

What evidence is there that these attacks occurred?

Faced with the aforementioned lack of information, the first question aims to determine whether this is actually happening. According to human rights organizations, the first reports of poisonings in women’s schools in Iran occurred in the city of Qom in November 2022.

Since then, hundreds of videos have been posted on social media showing girls affected by various symptoms, from fatigue and sore throats to headaches and numbness. There are also reports that in these episodes they perceive a variety of odors.

According to Mahmoud Azimaee, a data scientist at the University of Toronto, the vast majority of the episodes occurred in all-female schools. There are few cases where they have occurred in mixed schools. The bulk of the incidents have occurred in Qom and the capital, Tehran.

An image from an instance in which an ambulance allegedly rescues a poisoned young woman from a school in Iran. Photo: REUTERS

What toxic substances are being used?

Since neither the government of Iran nor the doctors who have treated the affected young women have offered public statements, any reconstruction must be based on secondary sources.

According to Alastair Hay, a toxicologist at the University of Leeds who has seen the blood studies of some affected, said that the presence of poisons cannot always be detected in a routine study.

If the attackers used any chemicals, the most potable candidate would be chloramine, a substance made by mixing a cleaning product containing chlorine with one containing ammonia.

According to Keith Ward, a chemist at George Mason University, it is unlikely that they used other substances, such as mustard gas or a nerve agent, since they have specific symptoms that have not been mentioned in the reports.

One hypothesis suggests that the poisonings are carried out by sectors of the government as a way of punishing young people and women for being the ones who promote the protests. Photo: AFP

Are there alternative explanations for what is happening?

According to sources at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank that specializes in military issues, the possibility that it is all the product of mass hysteria should not be ruled out. A picture that can be produced by anxiety in the face of a real or imagined threat, something that in Iran is the order of the day with the repression of the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

John Drury, a psychologist at the University of Sussex who studies collective behavior, says there is a history where “fear of poisoning has led to instances where people experience fainting, nausea and hyperventilation.”

According to the World Health Organization, episodes of this type have been reported in Afghanistan in 2009. In any case, Drury affirms that it is still too early to raise this possibility, and that it is necessary to investigate the concrete options that are on the table.

If a poison was used, who would be the perpetrators?

On November 11, 2022, Iran’s Interior Ministry stated that more than 100 people had been detained for disrupting school days using an “odourous but not harmful” substance. According to the ministry, the operation would have been a “mischief” due to an alleged hostility against the government.

In the same way, if the objective was to stop the normal flow of classes, the possibility that the government may have had some degree of interference cannot be ruled out. A hypothesis that involves the government would be based on the fact that, with this fact, the authorities sought to punish the young women that they supposed were an intrinsic part of the protests that have moved the country for months.

And even if it was not the government, if the intention of the poisoners was to target girls and young people directly, it is impossible to think that an operation could be carried out without some kind of approval from the authorities.

For Ali Ansari, an Iranian historian at the University of St. Andrews, “there are members of the regime who think that women should not be educated, and they may have decided to intervene directly.”

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