PROTECTION AGAINST TOXIC AGENTS

By March 1942 a number of blister gas detectors, all of which were based on color changes in a dye base and had their origins in British and American developments in 1918, had been standardized. They included the M4 vapor detector kit, capable of registering even faint concentrations of nitrogen and sulphur mustards M5 liquid vesicant detector paint M6 liquid vesicant detector paper and M7 vesicant detector crayon, sensitive to mustard and lewisite. Although the CWS had not discovered a better dye base than that developed by the British, NDRC chemists at the University of Chicago, at the University of Virginia, and at Ohio State improved its composition and developed new detector materials.  

An excellent detector kit proved to be the M9, developed with NDRC help in the CWS laboratories at Edgewood and MIT and standardized in July 1943. The Army considered this compact, efficient, and widely used kit one of the significant developments of the CWS defensive research program. Any soldier could learn to operate it after brief training, and it proved itself during the war in the inspection of chemical munitions at U.S. Army depots at home and abroad. 

J CWTC Item 48J, Military Charaaeristics and Standardization of Chemical Agent Detectors, 31 Mar 42. 

Types of Gas Masks, April 19I8. Prom left, American, French, early British, and German. 

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Lenz, D.E., Yeung, D., Smith, J.R., Sweeney, R.E., Lumley, L.A., Cerasoli, D.M. (2007). Stoichiometric and catal dic scavengers as protection against nerve agent toxicity a mini review. Toxicology 233 31-9. 

Protective Masks. Military protective masks may not protect against toxic industrial chemicals. Civilian protective mask used in industrial hygiene and hazardous waste operations may not protect against military NBC agents. It is imperative to ensure that the protective mask being used is appropriate for the situation. USACHPPM and SBCCOM can assist in the selection of the proper masks. 

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