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...
History has proven the use of chemical weapons ranging back for decades. From the Greeks in ancient Europe using Greek fire to South American tribes using a form of tear gas made of grounded up hot chili peppers to scare away enemy tribes. As well as dipping the tips of spear heads with a poisonous toxin. Poisonous toxins used from live reptiles like frogs and venom from the snakes found from whichever region had enough potency venom to exterminate. The past has proven, that in order for Armies to survive and win, it relied on out smarting the enemy. New technologies and the evolution of weaponry were left to the brightest minds from those eras to develop.
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.
"Federation of American Scientists :: Types of Chemical Weapons." Federation of American Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
The first Nerve Agents were discovered prior to WWI. Tabun was created in the 1935 by German Scientist. In the early 1950s the United States discovered and began to weaponize a new more potent series of Nerve Agents they classified as G Agents. Great Britain linked up with the United States to share a nerve agent that was derived by mistake from an insecticide and would later be known as VX. VX (O-ethyl S-[2-diisoproylaminoethyl] methylphsophonothioate), was the most lethal of all. From the LD50 concept, VX has a LD of 30. The Emergency Response Guide of today classifies VX as TIH a Toxic Inhalation Hazard. This agent whether used as a weapon or not, requires that you approach with extreme caution. If it is used as a weapon it will have an initial isolation and protective action distances as outlined in the ERG. It states that you should isolate the spill in all directions a minimum of 30m for a small spill and 60m for larger spills. Keep in mind, there is enough VX stored throughout the Continental United States to kill every human on the planet. I wouldn’t tak...
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921). Chemical warfare,. New York [etc.: McGraw-Hill book company, inc..
Chemical warfare is the use of chemical agents to injure, incapacitate, or kill enemy combatants. First seen during World War I (WWI), the devastating effects of widespread chemical warfare were eventually deemed inhumane by an international consensus and chemical agents were subsequently banned from use. Still, despite the tendency of the modern warrior to overlook antiquated tactics, the threat of chemical agents in the theater of war cannot be entirely discounted by today's Soldier. By analyzing the application, evolution, and overall legacy of chemical weapons in the Great War we can work to minimize the danger they pose in current conflicts and those of the near future. For it is only by understanding the past that we can understand the present and shape tomorrow.
Agent Orange is a terrifying concoction of many chemicals. Agent Orange is an herbicide containing a toxin called dioxin, a chemical causing cancer and major genetic damage . It was part of multiple other herbicides that were collectively called the rainbow herbicides . The rainbow herbicides were all slightly less toxic than Agent Orange. We dropped about 8 million gallons of Agent White, Blue, Purple, Pink, and Green. But out of these Agent Orange was the most lethal herbicide (“History Agent Orange”). Napalm is no better than Agent Orange. Napalm is an incendiary weapon that was synthesized from naphthene, palmitic acid, and gasoline that was created by group of Harvard chemists, led by Louis Fieser in 1943 (“Napalm In Vietnam”). It was first used in World War Two by bombers, to annihilate the Japa...
The utilization of chemical weapons during war has been in use since the beginning of time. The first time chemical warfare was use dates back to 600 B.C where Greek soldiers would poison the water reservoirs of their enemies. During 423 B.C. the Spartan soldiers used sulfur to attack Greece. Later on, in 673 C.E. the Greek navy was infamous for using burning chemical in the open sea, creating a floating fire wall allowing them to earn maneuver superiority. The use of chemical warfare continued throughout the middle ages where the Mongolian army used catapults to throw burning sulfur to their enemies. Chemical warfare became weapons of mass destruction during WWI, during the war, over one million casualties were reported and over 90 thousand were killed (Fitzgerald, 2008). Since WW I chemical weapons have been utilized in the battlefield, most noticeable during the Iraq and Iran war in 1980. World Powers have realized that chemical warfare, even though it provides an enormous advantage in the battlefield, it also comes with years of secondary effects and could become an immense financial burden.
This article is useful for my research due to giving details of how the Germans used their first poison gas during the Second Battle of Ypres and new gases after. It explains how the poison gases such as mustard gas, phosgene, and chlorine affected their victim. The article is helpful due to each type of gas having there own paragraph and explaining what the gases inflict on their victims and how it impacts them after. The paragraphs of each gas also give detail of what injuries the gases cause. This article is useful due to explaining what each gas does to a person and how it originated from and the dates it was used.
(B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
Chemical weapons and their use is one of the most important issues facing the world today. Not only is the use of such weapons highly controversial, but also the very idea of such weapons of mass destruction being in the hands of dangerous leaders. Next to nuclear weapons they are the most feared, and the prospect of these weapons not only concerns people, but also frightens them. As a result of these fears, America has entered a new war that could bring devastating effects upon our world. It is a very sensitive topic among many countries, and is out of hand primarily because of the introduction of chemical weapons to the world in the First World War. Many people have the same feelings about chemical weapons. Chemical weapons are wrong and those that exist in the world should be destroyed, but it is not that simple. Chemical weapons are very dangerous and even after their destruction, they are still very hazardous. Innocent people are being killed accidentally with chemical weapons, whether it is poor storage or bad transportation. The fact is that chemical weapons need to be destroyed, through very careful means. The production and use of chemical weapons is ethically wrong based on the devastating effects they have on the entire world. The weapons are something that is very difficult to get rid of, and we need to develop better ways to protect ourselves against their use and disposal.
On 10 July 1943, the allied forces attacked Sicily to stop the German occupation of Europe. The allied forces carried out combined attacks utilizing paratroopers, the Navy and Army land forces to start a battle that gave the allied forces a stronghold in Europe that fed into other military operations and a training location for Soldiers landing in Normandy later in the war. The initial battle and beach landing was anything but flawless. The ocean was violent and the paratroopers were scattered off their target area by more than 20 miles (Birtle, 2003). The axis forces unsuccessfully attempted to stop the allied forces by attacking units landing on the beaches. Nevertheless, the allied forces pushed forward and landed on the beaches of Sicily. The allied forces including the 83rd Chemical Battalion, which employed the 4.2 inch HE mortar, were engaged in intense battle against the Germans and the Italian forces (Birtle, 2003). Consequently, the Success of the operation was largely due to the mobility, accuracy and lethality of the 4.2 inch HE mortar. The Chemical Mortar Units provided critical support to the infantry units. However, the 4.2 Inch mortar has not been combat proven in battle prior to this operation. The mortar is a product of the efforts of Soldiers assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service Technical Command.
Why do countries use chemical weapons on innocent people? I understand there might be a conflict between two sides, but why are the civilians he ones who get affected the most? There is an ongoing debate in Syria regarding who used chemical weapons and who is responsible for the attack. Although Syria’s president and the rebels blame each other for the chemical attack, there is evidence in the ongoing debate that both sides used chemical weapons and the question of who is responsible for the death and destruction it caused.
Organphosphorus compounds such as Soman, Sarin, VX, and Tabun are referred to as nerve agents and are among the most lethal chemical weapons that were developed. These chemicals were used to cause catastrophic results in wars and also in terrorist attacks (Albuquerque, E, Pereira, E, Aracava, Y, Fawcett, W, Oliveria, M, Randall, W, Hamilton, T, Kan, R, Romano, J, Adler, M, 2006) . A major attack that involved the use of Sarin was in Matsumoto in 1994.The following timeline describes the events leading up to the tragic incident.
The first occurrence of chemical weapons being used in war was in 1915. German military troops killed thousands of people with chlorine gas. Chemical weapons ordinarily fall under the “blister, nerve, choking, blood and riot-control agents” (Tristeam) categories. Some examples of chemical weapons include, but are not limited to, sarin, tear gas, chlorine, mustard gas, and hydrogen cyanide. Of course, like anything, these highly deadly weapons have both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to war.