Sardasht, Iran

Khateri presents the experience of Iranian medics and paramedics which confront the mass casualties management in large scale chemical attacks during the war with Iraq (1980-1988). In the paper with Ghanei, Soroush,and Haines he discusses long-term health status of mustard-exposed children, 14 years after chemical bombardment of Sardasht, Iran. 

Roshan, R., Rahnama, R, Ghazanfari, Z., et al., 2013. Long-term effects of sulfur mustard on civilians mental health 20 years after exposure (The Sardasht-Iran Cohort Study). Health Qual. Life Outcomes 11, 69. 

M. Ghanei, M. Rajaee, S. Khateri, F. Alaeddini and D. Haines, Assessment of fertility among mustard-exposed residents of Sardasht, Iran a historical cohort study, Reprod. Toxicol, 2004,18, 635-639. 

On 28 June 1987 the Iraqi Air Force attacked Sardasht, atown in the northwest of Iran close to the Iraqi border, with chemical warfare agents. The attack involved detonation of 4 bombs containing sulfur mustard in densely populated residential areas of the central part of the town, causing at least 4500 casualties [1-5]. 3000 of these persons sustained mild exposure and were treated for acute effects on an outpatient basis whereas 1500 of the casualties exposed to higher... 

This was a difficult process. For unlike other types of weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons were used with brutal regularity over the course of the twentieth century, from Africa to Asia. What is more, their use was not limited to the battlefield. The place names of Halabja in Iraq and Sardasht in Iran have become synonymous with the human misery resulting from peacefiil civilians being attacked with these terrible weapons. 

Recalling further that the Executive Council (hereinafter the Council ) invited the Director-General, on behalf of the OPCW, to convey annually on 16 March to the authorities and inhabitants of the city of Halabja, Iraq, and on 28 June to the authorities and inhabitants of the city of Sardasht, the Islamic Republic of Iran, statements in memory of the chemical weapons attacks thereon, and to express sympathy for the victims ... 

Ghazanfari, T, Faghihzadeh, S., Aragizadeh, H., et al., 2009. Sardasht-lran cohort study of chemical warfare victims design and methods. Arch. Iran Med. 12 (1), 5-14. 

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