French reporters spirited toxin samples from Syria

PARIS (AP) — The Syrian doctors were reluctant at first to hand over the blood, urine and hair they had collected so carefully from sickened rebel fighters. But the team of French reporters from Le Monde persuaded the physicians, telling them they would get the syringes, tubes and sample bags to scientists who could analyze and identify the toxin, according to the newspaper’s account published Wednesday.

It took the journalists about a month to cross government lines and get the deteriorating samples to French government scientists. It took France’s foreign ministry a week to announce that traces of the nerve agent sarin had been detected, injecting new uncertainty into the debate in Europe and the U.S. over what to do about Syria.