Vesicants - Arsenic Based

Vesicants are hazardous through inhalation, skin and eye exposure, ingestion, and abraded skin (e.g., breaks in the skin or penetration of skin by debris). Liquid agents are much more hazardous than their vapors. 

Skin impacts from Arsenical Vesicant vapor occur at concentrations as low as 17 ppm (10 minute exposure). 

Eye impacts from Arsenical Vesicant vapor occur at concentrations as low as 3 ppm (10 minute exposure). Permanent eye damage may occur at concentrations as low as 18 ppm (10 minute exposure). 

LDsqS for skin exposure to liquid Arsenical Vesicants are as low as 2.8 gm per individual. 

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Dimercaprol is a synthetic therapeutic substance developed during World War II as an antidote against the vesicant arsenic war gases (lewisite). The first experiments were based on the fact that arsenic products react with SH radicals. Among all the compounds originally tested, BAL was the most effective and the least toxic. In 1951, BAL was used by a... 

Almost 100 years after the first use of mustard gas (HD) in warfare, there is stiU no available antidote, although there is an antidote (British anti-Lewisite) to the vesicant Lewisite, an arsenical compound developed in 1919. Treatment is therefore based on early recognition of the exposure and immediate decontamination to prevent further injury. This is particularly important in the case of the eyes. 

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