Poisons military chemical warfare agents

Ethylchloroacetate, Cl.CH2.C02.C2Hg raw 122.55 colorless pungent liq, sp gr 1.159 at 20°/4, fr p -26°, bp 144° flash p 54°C insol in w sol in ale, eth or benz. It can be prepd by the action of chloroacetyl chloride on ethanol or by treating chloroacecic acid with ethanol and sulfuric acid. It is used as solvent and as military poison gas. It wasnot described under Chemical Warfare Agents in Vol 2 of Encycl... 

Vincennite. Poisonous mixt used by the Fr in WWI in chemical shells. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide 50, As trichloride 30, Sn tetrachloride 15, and chloroform 5%. There was difficulty in obtaining toxic concns in field use because of the extreme volatility of the hydrocyanic acid Ref J. Bebie, Explosives, Military Pyrotechnics and Chemical Warfare Agents , Macmillan Co, NY (1943), 160... 

The CWC s other declaration requirements pertained to the numerous chemicals used in ordinary commercial products - fertilisers, pesticides, flame retardants and pharmaceuticals - that also could be diverted to manufacturing poison gas.11 Chemicals that industry used widely for commercial products were listed in Schedule 3,12 and the chemical industry was required to declare its activities with controlled chemicals above certain threshold quantities. However, the CWC was not restricted to compounds that were explicitly listed in the schedules. The discovery of a new potential chemical warfare agent would not, therefore, undermine the CWC because such an agent would be automatically banned if it had no justifiable non-military purpose. 

Naturally occurring poisons which are also more potent than the nerve gases are found in such sources as snake venoms, among the substances known as arrow poisons, and among toxic proteins found naturally, such as ricin, the toxic protein of the castor bean, and the bacterial toxins, such as tetanus toxin and botulinum toxin. Few of these highly toxic substances appear at present to be useful per se as chemical warfare agents, but intensive research on any of them may well lead the chemist to new toxic substances with military practicality. 

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 ... 

Sulfur mustards have become one of the most lethal weapons in chemical warfare. These substances were developed between World Wars 1 and II, along with some other lethal agents, such as nerve gases, nitrogen mustards, and phosgene. Sulfur mustards rank among the worst toxic military poisons, second to the nerve agents in terms of potential for mass casualties. These substances are also further discussed in Part A, Section XII of this book. 

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