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Chemical weapons of mass destruction
Chemical weapons of mass destruction
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Biological warfare is war waged with deadly chemicals, biological agents, or radioactive materials (CBR). They can be used to kill large amounts of people, destroy food, or just temporarily stun them for a matter of time so troops can come in and torture them or do whatever troops led by an manipulative tyrant who destroys everything. Using CBR, allowed you to kill everything and leave the buildings standing instead of nuclear weapons which destroy everything, put fallout in the air, and have radioactive materials wash into the ground and streams. Using deadly chemicals in war has been going on since the early 1900’s during World War I (1914-1918). Chemicals such as tear gas, chlorine gas, phosgene, and mustard gas. The first 3 are things that irritate the lungs, and mustard gas cause burns. After experimenting with these chemicals, they tried flame throwers but they were ineffective because of their short range. But that later led to napalm. Napalms kind of like gas only longer burning, more thick and it’s stickier and this is a deadly combination. All of this stuff led to the wide use of fire for World War II (1939-1945). By the end of W.W.I, European powers have integrated gas warfare capabilities into their armies artillery. During W.W.II, Germany was working on many different things. Such as nerve gases, the atomic bomb, and Adolf Hitler had scientists work on something to increase longevity. At the end of W.W.II every country knew about the advantages of deadly gases than conventional shoot outs and destructive bombs. Gases such as tear gas have been used in limited wars since W.W.II, such as in the Vietnam War; tear gas is also employed by civilian police forces to stop riots. The more deadly gases such as mustard gas and nerve gas has generally been condemned by most countries. Such weapons do remain in some arsenals, but treaties have gotten rid of them. There is evidence that Iraq used these weapons in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and that allied troops may have been exposed to these gases during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Various chemicals, such as Agent Orange, that alter the metabolism of plant and cause them to die have been employed in modern jungle warfare to reduce the enemy’s cover and let troops march in without the fear of being ambushed. Later it was found that Agent Orange harmed everything that was near it. It killed plants, went...
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...n the skin by those who handle infected hides and carcasses and may be self-limiting, but often gets into the bloodstream, with fever and exhaustion. It is characterized by malignant pustules on exposed skin areas. The inside type is acquired by inhaling anthrax cells, as from animal hair and wool, which take over the lungs and sometimes the intestinal tract to cause lose blood. It is speculated that an intestinal variety may be caused by consuming contaminated meat or milk. Workers exposed to animal products, especially wool, are protected by vaccination. Penicillin is effective in treatment except in rapidly progressing cases. The worst outbreak of anthrax occurred in 1979, when a biological weapons plant in Sverdlovsk, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (present-day Yekaterinburg) released an aerosol form of the anthrax pathogen. The source of this exposure, which killed 66 people, was publicly denied until 1994. In conclusion, biological weaponry are very deadly and can kill 100’s of millions of people without them knowing what’s going on. At least it doesn’t destroy buildings. So when we drop the big one, later intelligent species can dig up entire buildings and dead bodies.
Looking back at how the chemical weaponry expanded starting in the beginning of World War 1, it all began with Tear gas which was used by the French in August of 1914. Those techniques have been used in ancient times. Moving forward eight months in to the war the Germans have been giving great study in to the development of chemical weapons due to the first usage from the French and witnessed its great effectiveness and were the first to use it in a large scale.
On April 12, 1961, the first application of the chemical nicknamed Agent Orange was sprayed on Vietnamese foliage in an attempt to stop guerilla warfare, launching a herbicidal disaster ("Herbicidal Warfare"). The consequences of agent orange, unbeknownst to the former government officials, led to a series of catastrophic effects including, but not limited to neurobehavioral and physical anomalies of the human body. As a result of the lacking knowledge of Agent Orange, the United States and Vietnam are still cleaning up the herbicidal mess that could have been avoided (Magnuson). Decades later, scientific evidence proved that the use of the dioxin herbicide Agent Orange was linked to many physical and neurobehavior disorders (Poremba).
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.
Though biological weapons have been available for under a century, there is a long history of their use between 1914 and 1972. Chemical warfare was first introduced in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. Because of the new style of warfare with automatic weapons, trenches were dug out from the ground to defend against a slaughter. The introduction of this issue caused us to invent weapons such as the grenade, flame thrower, and finally, biological weapons. Biological weapons were distributed by hoses, grenades, and aerial attacks. By doing this, we eliminated many enemy trenches and saved a large amount of Ally lives. (Menace)
The 2001 anthrax attacks was one of the worst bio-weapon attacks on the US in history. The attacks where done through the mail. The anthrax was placed in envelopes with a letter and mailed from various locations to different people and organizations. The anthrax filled letters ended up killing 5 people, causing 17 to become sick and exposing anthrax it is believed to as many as 30,000 people. During the mail process spores of anthrax from the letters escaped and got on mailroom equipment exposing postal employees. If a person was exposed to enough anthrax and developed symptoms they typically died in a few days. Postal workers during the attacks where told that anthrax will appear as a white powder t...
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921). Chemical warfare,. New York [etc.: McGraw-Hill book company, inc..
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...
Bacillus anthracis or anthrax is bacteria that infect thousands of people a year worldwide. Mostly found in the hinds and hair of grazing animals like cattle and sheep, the bacteria can stay dormant for years until contacted. Contact can occur through broken skin, eating infected meat, or inhaling infected dust from hides through the mouth or nostrils. Normal contact through the skin begins forming malignant skin ulcers that are dark black in appearance. If left untreated, the blisters lead to blood poisoning and eventually death. Eating contaminated meat not fully cooked can cause intestinal infection also leading to death. Surprisingly, many people survive contact of the skin and very few cases of intestinal infection exist. However, inhalation of infected dust or spores are much more deadly because the symptoms resemble a common cold...
Louis Pasteur, in 1881, discovered the anthrax vaccine. Anthrax is an infection caused by many bacteria cells called “Bacillus”. These bacteria make “spores” which have a protective shell. This disease is most common in farm animals. They live in soil, and affect domestic a...
Mustard gas was not the only example of chemical weaponry used during World War I. The first example of this was the Germans use of a gas called phosgene in mid-1915, which caused drastic damage to the lungs (Mack 2). The Germans began using mustard gas in 1916 and soon both sides began to use poison gas as a weapon. At a lab at American University, which at its peak employed over 1,200 scientists specifically to create chemical weapons for the war, a new gas called Lewisite was developed. Lewisite poisoned its victims through the skin and rendered gas masks useless against it. During the war as many as 50 different gases were used by both sides (Mack 2). When the war e...
Tu, Anthony. “Chemical Weapons Abandoned by the Imperial Army in Japan and China at the End of World War II.” Toxin Reviews 30.1 (2001): 1-5 Environmental Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Anthrax is a very real and dangerous threat to all people who come in contact with it. The bacterial infection is caused by the bacteriaium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is divided into three categories all are contracted in different ways. The first type is called Cutaneous Anthrax; this is where anthrax spores make contact with the skin. If there is a cut or a lesion then a person can be infected. Cutaneous Anthrax is the most common way to get anthrax, but is also the least lethal. The second type of anthrax is called Pulmonary Anthrax this is where a person inhales the spores of anthrax directly into the lungs. If this type of anthrax is left untreated it could lead to death. The third type of anthrax is called Gastrointestinal Anthrax, this form results from eating meat from animals that have been infected with the anthrax bacteria. This causes the intestinal tract to become infected and this from is almost always fatal. This particular mode of anthrax has never been seen in the United States.
Waterman, Shaun. "Obama Hits Pause on U.S. Action in Face of Crippling Cyber Strikes from Syria, Iran." Washington Times 28 Aug. 2013. Print. (Source B)
Thesis: Biological Warfare is morally and inhumanely wrong, It is the wrongful killing of men, women, and children. It should be stopped no matter what the circumstances are.