Chemical terrorism challenges

Managing pediatric victims of chemical terrorism is an especially difficult challenge. In addition to the obvious physiologic and anatomic differences compared to adults (Table 61.1), there are important psychological and behavioral differences that put children at risk (Rotenberg and Newmark, 2003). Anecdotal reports have claimed that children are likely to be the first to manifest symptoms, to develop more severe manifestations, and to be hospitalized for other related illnesses. In fact, it is anticipated that children will be overrepresented among the initial index cases in a mass civilian exposure to toxic chemicals. Children have many characteristics that make them vulnerable to toxic exposures. The smaller mass of a child automatically reduces the dose of toxic agents needed to cause... 

Chemical terrorism is a continuous threat for the global population. A well-known example of chemical terrorism especially in light of events during the past 10 years, is the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo Subway. Preparing the nations to address this threat is a formidable challenge but the consequences of being unprepared are devastating. 

No emergency service or health care establishment can afford to ignore the potential and very real threat now posed by chemical terrorism. Such incidents provide different and exceptional challenges for which traditional major incident-response plans are unlikely to prove adequate. An... 

Protection of our food and water supplies against terrorist attack presents a major challenge, because the supply chain is so extensive and open. But it is a challenge that chemists and chemical engineers should accept. Moreover, the threats to food and water are not limited to terrorism—a variety of natural disasters could wreak havoc as well. 

Selective, highly sensitive sensors that can detect trace amounts of explosive vapors in real time are needed to help combat terrorism [1-4], Trace detection of explosives, however, is a formidable task. Selectivity is difficult to achieve because many chemicals can be used as explosives, and they differ from each other in their chemical properties. The extremely small vapor pressures of the explosives make it challenging to achieve highly sensitive vapor-based detection. Also, because the terrorist threat is very broad, combating it requires widespread deployment of inexpensive, low-power-consuming sensors. Therefore, devices... 

Hyams, K. C., Murphy, F. M., Wessely, S. (2002). Responding to chemical, biological, or nuclear terrorism The indirect and long-term health effects may present the greatest challenge. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, 27(2), 273-291. 

Chemical process security includes, but goes beyond, traditional physical security. Physical security includes such considerations as guards, barriers, surveillance equipment, and other physical system considerations. Physical security is an element of chemical process security, but physical security alone is not always adequate to address the new challenges of security against extreme acts of violence, such as terrorism. 

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