Nerve agents laboratory preparation

CWC-related chemicals must be handled with great care. Persons handling toxic chemicals must be specially trained for the work. When toxic samples are handled, decontamination solution, protective masks, and autoinjectors of nerve agent antidotes must always be available, and no one must ever work alone. Individual protective gear such as laboratory coats, chemically resistant protective gloves, and safety goggles are essential during sample preparation. Toxic samples must always be prepared in a fume cupboard. 

Most of the information on the effects of nerve agents on organ systems in humans is derived from studies done in the post-World War II period, from reports of people exposed to pesticides, or from clinical evaluations of accidental exposures of people who worked in nerve agent-research laboratories, manufacturing facilities, or storage areas or depots (Table 5-6). Some organ systems have been studied more intensively than others for some organ systems there are few human data. For example, for the musculoskeletal system, there is a plethora of data from animal studies and studies in isolated neuromuscular preparations, but study results are difficult to apply to a human clinical situation. 

Unfortunately, recent examples of possible intent to use are not difficult to find. A laboratory in a safe house of the Red Army Faction in Paris, France, was found to have made quantities of botulinum toxin it is believed that none was used.16 More alarming were the actions of the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan in early 1995. In addition to releasing the nerve agent sarin in the Tokyo subway on 18 March 1995, cult members were preparing vast quantities of Clostridium difficile bacterial spores for terrorist use.44 Although possibly not producing large numbers of casualties, the use of even small amounts of... 

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