Chemical Weapons: Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Chemical weapons, devices used for the sole purpose of hurting or killing humans, are widely considered one of the four types of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Chemical weapons are devices that spread a certain toxic chemical to incapacitate people. The two most dangerous kinds of chemical weapons are nerve agents and vesicant, or blister, agents. Types There five kinds of chemical agents. Lethal, Incapacitating agents, Riot control gases, Harassing agents, and Defoliants. (Hersh, 1) Lethal agents include Nerve agents, Vesicants, Blood agents, and Pulmonary agents. Nerve agents are phosphorus-containing organic chemicals and they work by disrupting the mechanism that transfers nerve messages to organs. These include Tabun, Sarin, Soman, Cyclosarin, GV, VE, VG, VM, VR, and VX. They are one of the two most dangerous types of chemical weapons Vesicants are chemical compounds that cause eye and skin pain and irritation. Also known as blister agents, they are known for leaving painful water blisters on affected skin. Some of these are Ethyldichloroarsine, Methyldichloroarsine, Phenyldichl...

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