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Essay on chemical weapons
Essay on chemical weapons
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Chemical Weapons When most people consider the threat from weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear bomb is likely to come to mind. While nuclear weapons certainly pose a huge risk to our nation and modern world, they are costly to develop and mostly out of reach from terrorist organizations. Chemical weapons, on the other hand, are much more available worldwide and can often be created using commercially available materials. Beginning in 490 B.C, when the Spartans burned pitch and sulphur together to create a toxic gas, chemical weapons have been used to wage war around the world. (Reaching Critical Will, 2008). While they were relatively simple in those days, modern technology has spawned a great number of different weapons with much more lethal effects. Most of the commonly used weapons of today can be broken down into three groups depending on how they affect the body. These include nerve agents, blister agents, and choking agents. Out of these three, nerve agents are usually the most deadly because of how effectively they interrupt the nervous system. While there are many varieties, the most deadly and popular nerve agent is known as sarin gas. At room temperature, it is a clear, colorless liquid with a boiling point of 158 degrees C. Despite its high boiling point, sarin is unstable in liquid form and will readily vaporize at room temperature producing a highly toxic gas (Judson, 2004, p.56). Once converted into a gas, it can kill in a matter of minutes at high doses by interrupting the body’s control of the muscles needed for breathing (Sarin Fact Sheet, 2008). This is achieved by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, an important chemical needed for muscle contraction. The role of this enzyme is to allow a musc... ... middle of paper ... ...rd: C4H8Cl2S, nitrogen mustard: C5H11Cl2N, phosgene oxime: CHCl2NO, and lewisite: C2H2AsCl3. Protection from them would include a sealed skin protection suit and respiratory protection in the form of a gas mask (Chemical Weapon, 2009). Today the use and manufacture of chemical weapons has been banned around the world, but one final hurdle still remains. Many countries, including the United States and Russia, still have thousands of tons of these weapons stockpiled from previous wars. Congress finally took action in 1986 requiring our country’s weapons to be destroyed due to the “concern that the probabilities of leaking and of a serious accident increase as the stockpile ages” (Greenberg, 2003). Many nations have now followed our example and signed treaties pledging to eliminate their arsenal, in hope that one day the world will finally be rid of chemical weapons.
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
As we move into the Twentieth Century the similarities are almost identical. The First World War has shaped not only modern warfare but even produced global attention to the brutal and inhumane death toll of the war. As stated in the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare, which was signed in 1925? While this was a welcomed step, the Protocol had a number of significant short comings, including the fact that it did not prohibit the development, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons.
The use of debilitating and deadly gases in World War I weighed heavily on the CWS in the years that followed. The lessons taken from the war forced CWS to the realization and likelihood of history repeating itself. Over the next 20 years, the CWS would fight its own battle for funding and existence due to the War Department’s issuance of General Order 26 of 1922. The order restricted research and development, as well as funding to CWS (Brophy & Fisher, 1959). During this time, the CWS evaluated its aging stockpiles. They knew that another war would require prompt production of chemicals in order to react to an attack on Americans. The CWS requested funding to perform research and initiate production, but the government felt it was unnecessary. In fact, officials questioned the existence of CWS. That would all change in the late 1930’s when the essence of a second world war would loom. The CWS received funding to initiate their plan of stockpiling chemicals weapons. In 1940, the CWS would receive a substantial increase in funding after Germany’s victory...
There have been many wars and battles fought with different weapons, but chemical weapons used in these wars are the worst kind. These weapons cause mutations and horrible deceases to a state in which some deceases even exist many years after the incident. These chemical weapons were unfortunately used by Iraq during the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq: 1980–1988. Iraq started using these chemical weapons excessively after 1984, until the end of the war even though countries are not allowed to use chemical weapons in any cases. However, Iraq got confirmation from The United States.
"Federation of American Scientists :: Types of Chemical Weapons." Federation of American Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
Josko, Deborah. "Botulin Toxin: A Weapon in Terrorism." Clinical Laboratory Science. 01 Jan. 2004: n.p. eLibrary Science. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Clark, D. K. (1959). Effectiveness of chemical weapons in WWI. Bethesda, Md.: Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University.
Pita, R. (2009). Toxin weapons: From World War I to jihadi terrorism. Toxin Reviews, 28(4), 219-237. doi:10.3109/1556950903246136
The Al Qaeda and Its Attempt to Use Chemical and Biological Warfare as a Means of Attack
Poison gas was perhaps the most feared weapon out of all. Created to overcome the long stalemate style of trench warfare, its purpose was to draw out soldiers hiding in the trenches. One side would throw the poison gas into the enemy trenches and they would either wait for their enemy to come out into open fire or perish in the trenches. The first poison gas used in battle was chlorine at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915 by the Germans. Shortly after, followed the phosgene. The effects of these gases were ghastly. Chlorine was the most deadly as "within seconds of inhaling its vapor, it destroys the victim's respiratory organs, bringing on choking attacks" (Duffy). Phosgene had similar effects, except the fact that the effects started kicking in after 48 hours of inhalation. In September 1917, the Germans introduced the mustard gas or Yperite which was contained in artillery shells against the Russians at Riga. Those exposed t...
Nuclear Arms, as opposed to conventional arms, generate their destructive force from nuclear reactions. The issues that are related to the use of nuclear weapons is also far different than the issues generated by conventional bombs. The long term
Pita, R. (2009). Toxin weapons: From World War I to jihadi terrorism. Toxin Reviews, 28(4), 219-237. doi:10.3109/1556950903246136
The soviets tested several deadly poisons on prisoners in the gulag like mustard gas, ricin, digitoxin and several others. The soviets wanted and tried hard to find a tasteless and...
In the beginning of the 20th century, scientists were experimenting with a wide range of chemicals to develop a method that may affect several diseases in hopes of producing a cure. A German chemist, Paul Ehrlich, who was experimenting treatments of syphilis with chemical methods, created the term “chemotherapy” (Bonander, 2011). It wasn’t until 1943 when the United State’s secret chemical weapon program discovered that nitrogen mustard, also know...