Nerve agents toxicity

V-agents - persistent, highly toxic nerve agents developed in the mid-1950s and absorbed primarily through the skin. 

It seems clear from this and remarks made earlier in his career that Churchill was prepared to contemplate the use of CW in what he saw as a just cause. The discovery of the very toxic nerve agents by Schrader in Germany just before and during WWII was a major surprise, as already stated, to the Allied Powers, and the acquisition by the Soviet Union of the major German nerve agent production plants at DUhernfurt on the River Oder, now Dyhernfurth, Silesia, Poland, immediately after WWII, was seen as... 

Thy US -[ 2-(d i isopropylam ino)cthy 1] methyl-phosphonothioate. Exceedingly toxic nerve agent. Low volatility percutaneous hazard. MW ... 

GF is a highly toxic nerve agent. It is a potent inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase and a neurotoxicant. The toxic symptoms are characteristics of sarin and other similar organophosphates. The toxicity is lower than GA, GB, GD, and VX. 

Fig. 2. Structural formulae of some highly toxic nerve agents.

On the battlefield, knowledge of the chemical or biological agent threat and its medical and physical countermeasures can actually reduce the threat. In World War I, the death rate for chemical casualties was about 3%. Data are not available for the Iran-Iraq War, but informal reports indicate that the death rate for those chemical casualties who reached medical care was probably less than 5%, despite the use of the highly toxic nerve agents against rela-... 

Signs and Symptoms of Toxicity. Nerve agents are toxic by all routes of exposure (DA 1974). Toxic effects, which can appear within seconds or minutes... 

Organophosphates (nerve agents) require more sophistication but they too are not outside the reach of most countries, as Iraq demonstrated in the 1980s and 1990s. Terrorists probably would try to acquire the highly toxic nerve agents, which have the potential to create many casualties with great lethality and require much smaller quantities than mustard or Lewisite. 

Lee et al. (1979) were the first to draw attention to the possible effects of OPs on human leukocyte function. They demonstrated that l5unphocyte proliferation to phy-tohemaglutinin in vitro was decreased in tiie presence of OPs. Although most of the studies described tiie results of OPI exposure, there are studies about the immimotoxic effects of highly toxic nerve agents and tiieir by-products. Marked impairment in neutrophil chemotaxis and neutrophil adhesion, and a reduction in the NK cell and cytotoxic... 

After WWn a number of countries continued to maintain active chemical weapons programmes. In particular the United States of America and the Soviet Union produced and maintained large stockpiles of modern chemical weapons containing the highly toxic nerve agents. Other countries, notably Iraq, have also developed and stockpiled chemical weapons. 

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