Tabun battlefield

In addition to battlefield trauma, there is also the risk of exposure to chemical weapons such as the nerve agents, notably the organophosphorus gases (soman, sarin, VX, tabun) [6]. Organophosphorus toxicity arises largely from their ability to irreversibly inhibit acetyl-cholinesterases, leading to effects associated with peripheral acetyl-choline accumulation (muscarinic syndrome) such as meiosis, profuse sweating, bradychardia, bronchioconstriction, hypotension, and diarrhoea. Central nervous system effects include anxiety, restlessness, confusion, ataxia, tremors. 

The second nerve gas, Sarin, which is known to us as GB, was not available to the Germans in quantity during World War II. However, they had small laboratory samples of this material. Much research on the nerve gases after the close of World War II led to the decision that Sarin was superior to tabun for military purposes. It has been exhaustively investigated with respect to its possible effects on the battlefield. 

The most widespread and most open use of chemical weapons on a battlefield in recent decades was by Iraq in its conflict with Iran. This time the evidence of chemical use was conclusive. Undetonated shells were sampled and their contents were analyzed by several laboratories in Europe. A vesicant or blister agent (mustard) and a nerve agent (tabun) were identified. About 100 Iranian soldiers with chemical wounds were sent to European hospitals for care their wounds were consistent with vesicant (mustard) injury. A team appointed by the U.N. secretariat went to Iranian battlefields and hospitals and found chemical shells and patients with chemical injuries. The public outcry at the use of these weapons was less than overwhelming. Ignoring protests from the world community, Iraq continued to use these agents. 

An alternative to classifying by physiological effects or persistency is to use an intrinsic property of the toxic chemical that will not vary, but is relative to the use of that chemical on that battlefield or by terrorists. The prime example of such a property is volatility—the tendency of a solid or liquid to pass into the gaseous state. In this scheme, a chemical might be classified as high volatility (such as phosgene), intermediate volatility (such as sarin, soman, and tabun), and low volatility (such as sulfur mustard, VX, and most toxins). 

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