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Chemical Weapons I. Overview

Written by Translator on July 16, 2008 – 8:23 pm -

Crossposted at Dailykos.com

This the first in a series exploring chemical weapons. We will begin with a brief history and basic properties, then move to the state of chemical weapons in the world today. Chemical weapons have been used for centuries in warfare. One could say, at the extreme, blackpowder and other explosives are chemical weapons, but modern usage defines chemical weapons as having a physical, physiological, or combination of effects against people.

There are many classes of chemical weapons, from “tear gas” (technically called a lacrimator) up to the lethal agents, commonly the “mustards” (blistering agents, vesicants) and the “nerve” agents (nerve impulse disruptors).

Modern chemical warfare goes to World War I, when the Germans used chlorine, released from cylinders, against the Allies. The initial toll was significant, but the Allies soon learned how to countermand chlorine attacks.

Mustard agents were developed both by the Axis and Allies during World War I, and used to a fairly large extent. Related to the mustard agents are the arsenical agents. Both cause blistering and lung damage, and are more difficult to defeat than chlorine. Mustards were ideal for offense against entrenched troops, because they are heavier than air and thus concentrate in the trenches. The casualty rate was high, but in the final analysis they were not very effective, largely due to difficulty in controlling distribution.

After World War I, chemical weapons were not used in a widespread manner in general warfare, although it is established that the Japanese used them (along with biological weapons) against the Chinese, many of them civilians. It is pretty well established that Saddam Hussein used both blister and nerve agents against Kurdish tribes in Iraq, and perhaps against the Iranians, but the latter is not iron clad.

Before we get to current states of affairs, a short primer on chemical weapons will be presented. Since there are so many toxic materials that have been investigated that it would be impossible to cover them all, this series is concerned with those materials that have been produced and/or stockpiled only in militarily significant amounts.

As previously stated, chlorine (Cl-Cl) was the first to be used. It is classified as a choking agent, since it primarily acts to interrupt breathing. It is hard to get a sustained concentration of chlorine over a reasonable area without railroad cars full, so it is not very practical, being nonpersistant. It is also very easy to sense with the nose, so can be avoided in some cases. This is a common industrial material and travels by the ton across the country by rail and by truck.

Phosgene

is another choking agent, but is more potent and less easy to detect. It is possible to breathe enough phosgene for a fatal dose without knowing it, and die of pulmonary edema hours later. However, disperses rather quickly and so is nonpersistant. It also is a common industrial material and is transported by the ton every day.

Blood agents include hydrogen cyanide

and cyanogen chloride.

Both work by inactivating one the the cytochrome series of enzymes, making it impossible for cells to utilize oxygen. While your lungs work fine, you can not breathe enough air since your cells are oxygen deprived. They kill, at lethal concentrations, in minutes. They are nonpersistant, easily dispersed by the wind. Both of these materials are also transported by the ton every day as they are common industrial chemicals.

The previous materials were industrial chemicals pressed into service because they had know toxic effects, but had the disadvantage that they were all gases at normal conditions, rendering them nonpersistant and toxic by nature, not be design. Newer, more insidious, materials were developed directly as a part of the war effort to overcome some of these disadvantages.

Blister agents (vesicants) were the first to be developed. Mustard “gas”,

also called Levenstein mustard, was the first, and is not a gas at all, but a slowly volatile liquid. The Germans developed “nitrogen mustards”

that work the same way but are based on nitrogen instead of sulfur. They both work the same way: they react with the lipids and the DNA of cells by alkylation, destroying the integrity of those essential molecules. You can wash your hands in the liquids, or breathe their vapors, and will feel fine. For a few hours. Then the lipids and DNA in your cells are irreversibly damaged, and the result is just like a heat burn. Blisters form, and they heal only slowly. Lungs fill with fluid, and vocal cords are damaged. Hitler’s cracking voice is attributed by many as damage from his exposure to sulfur mustard during World War I.

The arsenicals are related. These were pretty much American inventions, but not wholly so. The brilliant American scientist Winford Lee Lewis, who developed Lewisite

These materials not only are vesicants, they are also systemic poisons because of the arsenic in them. The British came up with a chelating agent, call BAL (British Anti-Lewisite) that is still used for arsenic poisoning, but it is a very unpleasant drug.

Next time I will fill in on sternuatators and lacrimators, and then go to the new generation of extremely lethal agents that the Germans developed during World War II. I will hang around for a while for questions, comments, and criticisms. Warmest regards, Doc.

Tags: Chemical weapons, Mustard gas, Nitrogen Mustard, Teaching, Vesicants
Posted in Science |