Gas casualties

Phosgene was used tactically as a delayed or immediate action casualty gas. It was first employed by the Germans in WWI (Dec, 1915) in cylinders under the name D-Stoff. The French iater (1916) employed phosgene as an artillery shell filler (Collingite). During the remainder of the war it was the Allies principal war gas, used also in trench mortars, bombs, and projector drums (Ref 2)... 

In use, a moderately delayed-action casualty gas. A blister gas , toxic lung irritant and systemic poison. It produces immediate and strong stinging sensation of the skin Refs 1) Anon, OrdTechTerm (June 1962),... 

MD Methyldichloroarsine(Ger Methyldick), CH3.AsCl2 blister gas(Ref l6,p 143 Ref 22,p 101). Compare with ED and PD PD, Phenyldichloroarsine(Fr Sternite), CsHg.AsCl2. A liq which can be dispersed by expl action or as a spray to form a delayed action casualty gas of low persistency. Classed as "blister gas, it also acts as vomiting gas (Ref 54a,p 68)... 

Gas in any case was far less efficient at maiming and killing men than were artillery and machine-gun fire. Of a total of some 21 million battle casualties gas caused perhaps S percent, about 1 million. It killed at least 30,000 men, but at least 9 million died overall. Gas may have evoked special horror because it was unfamiliar and chemical rather than familiar and mechanical in its effects. 

Because DA and related compounds cause intense effects on the nasal and upper respiratory passages, they are referred to as "sneeze gas" (sternutators). Like other arsenicals, DA is a white solid and was originally produced as both a casualty gas and a mask breaker during World War I. 

Fig. 11.16 GA-bred red personality to perform mission M = Get as many forces near blue s Hag as possible while minimizing friendly casualties.

The United States considers agent CN (popularly known as mace or tear gas) and its mixtures with various chemicals to be obsolete for military deployment. It is highly toxic by inhalation and ingestion. CN tear compound causes flow of tears and irritation of the skin. Since tear compounds produce only transient casualties, they are wisely used for training, riot control, and situations where long-term incapacitation is unacceptable. 

There are no published recommendations for isolation or protective action distances for these materials deliberately released in mass casualty situations. However, traditional isolation and protective action distances for most of these materials can be found in the Department of Transportation 2004 Emergency Response Guide (ERG). These recommendations are based on an accidental release during transportation of the material and involving a small spill (i.e., a commercial gas cylinder or 200 liters or less of liquid material), or a large spill (i.e., more than one gas cylinder, a large gas container such as a railcar, or more than 200 liters of liquid material). 

Nerve Agent Antidote Kit (NAAK or MARK I) consists of an atropine auto-injector (2 mg), a pralidoxime chloride auto-injector (2-Pam-Cl, 600 mg), the plastic clip joining the two injectors, and a foam case. The kit serve as a countermeasure to nerve agents, including tabun (GA), sarin (GB), soman (GD), GF, and VX. Military personnel can receive three MARK I for self/buddy aid. Possible side effects of atropine and/or 2-PAM-C1 are deemed insignificant in a nerve agent casualty. Intravenous atropine and 2-PAM-C1 can also be made available. The MARK I kit is manufactured by Survival Technology, Inc., Rockville, Maryland. 

Postel, S. and Swift, M. 1945. Evaluation of the bleeding-transfusion treatment of phosgene poisoning. In Fasciculus on chemical warfare medicine v. II, respiratory tract. Washington, DC National Research Council, Committee on Treatment of Gas Casualties pp. 664-690. (Cited in EPA 1986)... 

GD is more neurologically active than GA and GB. A dosage of 0.01 mg/kg (ingestion or skin absorption) may bring death within 1 minute. Since the body s ability to detoxify GD is very slow, it tends to accumulate in the body. Because it persists 1 to 2 days under moderate weather conditions, casualties through dose accumulation are common. 

Why have there been no terrorist attacks with nerve agents in the many months since 9-11 The answer seems obvious chemical weapons are not particularly effective At best, they cause deaths in a circumscribed area where there is no protection and no escape. Two hundred kilograms of conventional high explosive, (the capacity of a SCUD missile) can cause more deaths than the same amount of "nerve gas." Any statement that such agents will cause tens of thousand of casualties is gross hyperbole. What is worse, it unnecessarily fans the flames of panic. 

The Chemical Corps had already sustained a serious black eye after an accident with nerve gas near Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. In 1968, a small plane had sprayed VX as part of a dissemination test. Unexpectedly, winds blew it in the wrong direction. Although there were no human casualties, many sheep grazing on nearby farms died. 

At the end of World War I, medical thought was turning to the possibility that soldiers who had been gassed with mustard, chlorine, phosgene, and other agents would develop tuberculosis. In the early postwar years, publications described efforts to identify cases of tuberculosis among gas casualties. The expected epidemic failed to appear, and attention subsided. More extensive studies, such as that of Beebe, were initiated.1 Gradually, mustard gas became the... 

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