The use of Blister Agents has been known for more than 150 years. Blister Agents are the most common Chemical Warfare Agents and are also known as vesicants. There are five known vesicants, which they are, Sulfur Mustard (HD), Nitrogen Mustard (HN), Lewisite (L), Lewisite Mixture (HL), and Phosgene Oxime (CX). The two most know vesicants consist of Sulfur mustard, also known as Mustard gas, and Lewisite. It was once stated that, Sulfur Mustard was the most commonly Blister Agent associated with warfare and was in fact, the major cause of chemical casualties during World War I even though it was only used during the last year of the War. (Smith, 2002).
Sulfur mustard was first introduced by Germany in 1917. It caused 88 percent of deaths and was a huge factor in that specific disease affecting most of that specific geographical location. Sulfur mustard was also used during the Iraq-Iran War which took place from 1984 to 1987. During the Iraq-Iran War, there were between 40,000 and 150,000 casualties in result of chemical munitions. (Newmark, 2007).
Sulfur mustard is a Chemical Blister Agent that does not affect the body immediately. It has a period of one to eight hours in which a person can be affected. Depending on the duration of exposure to Sulfur mustard, it will determine how long it will take for a person to heal from this exposure. It is imperative that medical personnel handling victims of Sulfur mustard protect themselves due to the fact that they can also become victims.
There are a few reasons why Sulfur mustard was used in many cases. First, it was very effective. Second, it forced the enemy to wear the needed protective equipment. Third, with forcing the enemy to wear some or additional protective equipment, it affec...
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...r countries. I believe that with the current technology and capabilities of so many countries, it is almost impossible to determine how deep their studies go.
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The two chemical weapons that were used were: nerve agent and mustard gas. Nerve agent has two main classes that are Class G and Class V. Class V is more new, however less fatal. The specific nerve agent used by the Iraqis is Cyclosarin. Cyclosarin is an extremely toxic substance used as a chemical weapon, which is a member of Class G. Cyclosarin is the most dangerous gas out of both classes. It is known to have a sweet smell and is also flammable unlike other nerve gases. Mustard gas on the other hand is yellow and smells like garlic. Both gases cause death in minutes and have long lasting effects. These can include diseases and other horrible problems. Many of these diseases cannot be cured, for the cells have been damaged and cannot be repaired.
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...soldiers also used gases to kill the enemy. The big three gases was chlorine, phosgene gas and mustard gas. The one most widely used was mustard gas because it was less detectable. Eventually the tank was invented, the tank was almost impossible to stop so they used it to break through enemy lines especially to break through the trenches. Soldiers would also break through lines by using miners to dig tunnels to the enemy trench and place a mine to blow it up so they could attack them.
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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...
Pita, R. (2009). Toxin weapons: From World War I to jihadi terrorism. Toxin Reviews, 28(4), 219-237. doi:10.3109/1556950903246136
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Agent Orange is a chemical defoliant introduced in agriculture in 1946 as an herbicide to aid farmers and was used accordingly throughout 1950, after which its production was switched solely for military uses under the Defense Production Act of 1950. Since then, even though ingredients were commercially available and accessible to the public, mass production became heavily regulated and only a handful of the US Chemical manufacturing companies were able to produce it. Agent Orange derives its name from the distinctive orange bands that were used by the military to mark Agent Orange storage containers in which it was transported, rather than from the color of the substance itself. British Military was the first to use Agent Orange in warfare in Malaya. Later, it was used by the US in the Republic of Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 during the Vietnam conflict. It was used as a defoliant and herbicide in Vietnam to deny the enemy use of jungle foliage, for cover and concealment, and to disrupt food production used to sustain the enemy force (Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. (2011). Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. The National Academies Press.).
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.
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...