Chemical warfare agents battlefield

Tomes JA, Opstad AM, Johnsen BA. 1991. Use of solid-phase extraction in determination of chemical warfare agents. Part IE Determination of chemical warfare agents in samples from a battlefield environment. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry 44(4) 227-232. 

A university specialist recommended Cytoxan for treatment. Chris is no dummy. She refused the Cytoxan, because, she said, "I didn t want to trade one disease for another." Cytoxan is similar to nitrogen mustard, the chemical warfare agent used to kill Americans on the battlefields of France in World War I. (Now, American doctors wage war with these terrible chemicals against patients.)... 

Blood agents are common industrial chemicals that have been used on the battlefield to produce casualties. Two primary types of blood agents used by the military are hydrogen cyanide (AC) and cyanogen chloride (CK). Poisonous effects of cyanide have been well known since ancient times. Cyanide was the first blood agent used as a chemical warfare agent. Cyanides are salts with the metals potassium, sodium, and calcium most commonly used to form the compounds. The term blood agent ... 

Thus, the detection of environmentally present chemical warfare agents (CWA) requires highly sensitive, selective, and fast quantitative methods, capable of low level of pollutant detection in the battlefield and surrounding streams, waste waters, soils, plants, and food [42,43]. The most important preventive measures in this case are to rapidly determine the source of the pollutant and the magnitude of the threat using on-site measurements. The OPC assay in real samples requires the stages of extraction, clean up, and preconcentration because of the relatively low... 

Delivery of chemical agents can be accomplished by a full range of weaponry. Liquid agents may be dispensed from land mines and spray tanks to artillery projectiles, aerial bombs, rocket and missile warheads, or even cruise missiles. This means that all battlefield areas, from front lines to rear reserves, are vulnerable to chemical warfare attack, and that medical practitioners should be fully prepared to treat chemical warfare casualties from a variety of locations. It is also important to note that, while this section largely focuses on the use of chemical warfare agents on the battlefield, medical personnel must also be prepared for the possibility of isolated and spontaneous chemical attacks on both military personnel and civilians in areas subject to low-intensity conflict and isolated acts of terrorism. 

The military has considered vesicants to be major chemical warfare agents since 1917. Mustard, however, is the only vesicant known to have been used on the battlefield. Mustard and Lewisite, in much smaller amounts, are known to be in the stockpiles of other countries. 

Phosgene oxime is a manufactured chemical that was developed as a potential chemical warfare agent, hut its use on the battlefield has never been documented. It has a disagreeable penetrating odor. Pure phosgene oxime is a colorless, crystalline solid the munitions grade compound is a yellowish-brown liquid. Both the liquid and the solid can give off vapors at ambient temperatures. 

Inorganic oxides are currently being considered as reactive sorbents for the decontaminantion of chemical warfare agents (CWA). These versatile materials, well-known for their industrial uses as adsorbents, catalysts and catalyst supports, have many potential decontamination applications such as environmentally-friendly hasty decontamination on the battlefield, protective filtration systems for vehicles, aircraft and buildings, and the demilitarization of CWA munitions and stockpiles. To stress the enormity of the latter problem, the US and Russia have declared CWA stoclqriles of 25,000 and 42,000 tons, respectively." ... 

Decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA s) is important not only for battlefield applications, but for cleanup as well. Some common CWA s are VX-((9-ethyl S -(2iisopropylamino)ethyl methylphosphonotioate), which is a nerve gas, and HD (mustard gas), which is a blistering agent. For much of the CWA decontamination research, CWA simulants which have similar chemical structures and properties as CWA s but are much less toxic, are used. In the work described here, DMMP (dimethylmethylphosphonate) and 2-CEES (2 chloroethyl sulfide) will be used as CWA simulants for VX and HD,... 

Decontamination of chemical warfare agents, such as the nerve gas, VX, is required in a variety of situations including battlefields, laboratories, storage facilities, and destruction sites. Most research has dealt with battlefield decontamination due to the speed and ease of use of a decontaminant required in this situation. Because of the requirements of battlefield decontamination, reactive inorganic powders have been widely explored as possible catalysts for CWA decontamination. Studies have been performed examining the neutralization of VX on nanosized MgO (5), nanosized CaO (2), AgY (9), and nanosized AI2O3 (7) and other similar compounds on nanosized MgO (79). 

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