organophosphate

CONT: L'enquête britannique sur l'ESB [encéphalopathie spongiforme bovine] se borna à admettre que «la porte n'était pas encore fermée sur la possibilité que les organophosphates (OP) puissent jouer un rôle en rendant les bovins plus sensibles à l'infection par l'ESB» [...]

CONT: Organophosphates (OPs) are chemical substances originally produced by the reaction of alcohols and phosphoric acid. In the 1930s, they were used as insecticides, but the German military developed these substances as neurotoxins in World War II. They function as cholinesterase inhibitors, thereby affecting neuromuscular transmission.