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Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction

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The use of poison gas in warfare originated during WWI in the battle ... to kill millions in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany during WWII from 1941-1945 ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction


1
Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • S255 Threats, Violence, and Workplace Safety
  • 2nd Eight weeks, Fall Semester 2003
  • Guest Lecturer Jessica Cordette, MPH(c)

2
A Century of Chemical Warfare
  • The use of poison gas in warfare originated
    during WWI in the battle of Ypres, April 22, 1915
  • 1.3 million casualties, 91,000 fatalities were
    attributed to the use of phosgene, chlorine, and
    mustard gas
  • Italy used chemical weapons aggressively against
    Ethiopia in 1935-1936.
  • 15,000 reported chemical casualties mostly from
    mustard gas
  • The Japanese Army used mustard gas, phosgene,
    lewisite and other agents indiscriminately in
    China from 1937-1945
  • Over 900 reported chemical casualties
  • Poisonous gases such as factory exhaust fumes and
    the infamous Zyklon B were used to kill millions
    in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany during
    WWII from 1941-1945

3
A Century of Chemical WarfareContinued
  • Phosgene and mustard bombs killed at least 1,400
    people during the Yemeni civil war (1963-67), in
    Egypt
  • Massive chemical weapon assaults were seen during
    the Iran-Iraq War (1983-1988) and in the Iraqi
    suppression of its Kurdish minority (1987-1988)
  • On March 17, 1988, Iraq attacked the Kurdish
    village of Halabja with suspected nerve agents,
    killing hundreds of civilian refugees
  • The U.S. waged chemical warfare in Southeast Asia
    (1961-72)
  • Riot control agents (similar to tear gas) and
    chemical defoliants and herbicides (Agent Orange)
    were used extensively

4
Classification of Chemical Weapons- By Human
Effects
  • Blister Agents
  • Choking Agents
  • Blood Agents
  • Nerve Agents

5
Blister Agents
  • Intended to cause incapacitation rather than
    death
  • Used extensively during WWI
  • Tactic Overload a regions medical facilities
  • Examples Lewisite, Mustard Gas

6
Choking Agents
  • Most common during WWI but have lost much of
    their usefulness since the advent of the nerve
    agents.
  • Intended to cause death
  • Easily obtained
  • Example Phosgene (CG as designated by the
    military) is a common industrial chemical with a
    moderate lethal dose

7
Blood Agents
  • Cyanide based compounds are the main components
    of the blood agents
  • Rapid rate of evaporation
  • Tactic assassination of an individual since
    these agents arent well suited for use on a
    large number of people
  • Example Hydrogen Cyanide (AC)

8
Nerve Agents
  • Newest trend in chemical weapons
  • Original nerve agents were developed by German
    scientists during the 1930s as insecticides and
    were developed into chemical weapons by the Nazi
    military later that decade.
  • Sarin, Tabun, Soman and other agents have been
    the main toxins stockpiled as chemical weapons

9
Nerve AgentsContinued
  • Nerve agents are hundreds to thousands times more
    lethal than blister, choking or blood agents
  • Most useful to terrorists because only a minute
    quantity is necessary to cause a substantial
    amount of casualties
  • In their most effective form, most nerve agents
    are more difficult to obtain
  • VX and Sarin, the most toxic of the nerve agents,
    can be synthesized by a moderately competent
    organic chemist.

10
Close up Chemical Weapons Making Recent News
  • Iraq has admitted to manufacturing the chemical
    agents mustard gas, VX, sarin and tabun before
    the 1991 Gulf War, although much of this has been
    destroyed by UNSCOM inspectors.
  • However, intelligence estimates that 360 tones of
    chemical warfare agent remain unaccounted for
    and that Iraq could produce mustard gas within
    weeks and nerve agents such as VX, tabun and
    sarin within months.
  • Iraq says anything that has not been destroyed
    will have degraded beyond use by now.

11
Major Iraqi Sites Suspected of Housing Chemical
Weapons
12
For ComparisonUnited States Stockpiles of CW
(June, 2000)
13
Close Up Chemical Weapons Making Recent
NewsContinued
  • Mustard Gas
  • Mustard gas 'Mustard' is liquid at room
    temperature, but is more commonly used in its gas
    form - which has a strong smell likened to
    horseradish or garlic.
  • Absorption Contact with skin or inhalation
  • Effects Mustard gas is a blistering agent,
    burning eyes and skin exposed to it and lungs,
    mouth and throat if it is inhaled. It is not
    normally lethal, but can cause cancer and serious
    disfigurement.
  • Symptoms Conjunctivitis, skin burns, throat
    pain, cough and susceptibility to infection and
    pneumonia. Symptoms are not usually noticed until
    1 6 hours after exposure.
  • Protection Protective clothing and early
    decontamination, followed by antibiotics.
  • Iraqi program Iraq has admitted making 2,850
    tons of mustard gas, has filled bombs with it and
    used it against Kurds at Halabja in 1988.

14
Close Up Chemical Weapons Making Recent
NewsContinued
  • VX
  • VX A clear, colorless liquid technically named
    methylphosphonothioic acid and described as the
    most deadly nerve agent ever created.
  • Absorption Through eyes, lungs and skin
  • Effects Like other nerve agents, VX attacks the
    nervous system severe doses can cause death
    within 15 minutes of exposure.
  • Lethal dose Fraction of a drop
  • Symptoms Small doses trigger nasal discharge,
    chest tightness, wheezing and headaches severe
    doses lead to convulsions, confusion and
    respiratory failure.
  • Protection Immediate injection of atropine
  • Iraqi program Iraq has admitted making 3.9
    tonnes, including 1.5 tons which the UK says
    remain unaccounted for. Also unaccounted for are
    300 tons of a chemical which Iraq had used only
    for the production of VX. VX was used in the
    Iraqi attack on the Kurds at Halabja and traces
    of it have also been found on remnants of
    ballistic missile warheads.

15
Close Up Chemical Weapons Making Recent
NewsContinued
  • Sarin
  • Sarin A colorless liquid several times more
    deadly than cyanide, sarin is related to a group
    of pesticides and was initially developed in
    Germany in the 1930s.
  • Effects Sarin attacks the nervous system when
    inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Inhalation
    can cause death within 1 10 minutes of
    exposure.
  • Lethal dose 0.5 milligrams
  • Symptoms Pupils shrink to pinpoints and sweating
    and twitching precede symptoms similar to those
    for VX exposure.
  • Protection Injection of antidote immediately
    after contact.
  • Iraqi program Iraq has admitted to manufacturing
    795 tons of sarin, filling bombs with it and
    developing ballistic missile warheads to deliver
    it. Iraq used sarin against Iranian troops during
    the Iran-Iraq war, and against Kurds at Halabja
    in 1988.

16
Close Up Chemical Weapons Making Recent
NewsContinued
  • Tabun
  • Tabun Also known as GB, tabun was discovered in
    Germany by Dr Gerhard Schrader, who also first
    developed sarin.
  • Effects If inhaled or absorbed through the eyes
    or skin, tabun can kill in as little as one or
    two minutes.
  • Symptoms Similar to VX and sarin.
  • Protection Injection of antidote immediately
    after contact.
  • Iraqi program Iraq has admitted to producing 210
    tonnes of tabun and using the agent to fill
    bombs. A UN-backed team has confirmed that Iraq
    used tabun as early as 1984 against Iranian
    forces. Tabun was also used in the Iraqi attack
    on Kurds at Halabaja in 1988.

17
Advantages
  • Difficult detection
  • Ease of transport in a sealed container
  • Low cost/ low technology to develop
  • Frightening image
  • Overall efficiency
  • Industrial chemicals can be purchased legally

18
AdvantagesContinued
  • A cost comparison
  • For a large-scale operation against a civilian
    population casualties might const 2,000 per
    square kilometer with conventional weapons, 800
    with nuclear weapons, 600 with nerve-gas
    weapons, 1 with biological weapons

19
Disadvantages
  • Increased effort in retaliation from
    anti-terrorist forces
  • Risk for terrorists using chemical weapons to
    harm themselves

20
Future Implications
  • The likeliness of an incident involving chemical
    weapons has increased dramatically in the past
    decade
  • Binary weapons are becoming an even more
    desirable terrorist weapon
  • Reduced risk during storage and transport
  • Binary weapons store the chemical agent as two
    separate precursor chemicals that combine to form
    the final lethal product
  • reduce the threat of accidental exposure upon
    dispersal of the agent
  • Binary weapons can be made with a time-delay
    mechanism to assure the terrorist escapes without
    harm

21
Future ImplicationsContinued
  • The spread of chemical weapons capability to
    third world countries which may have connections
    with terrorists

22
International Policy Attempts to Eradicate
Chemical Warfare
  • The Hague Gas Declaration of 1891 banned the use
    of projectiles the sole object of which is the
    diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases
  • The Brussels Declaration of 1874 and the Hague
    Conventions of 1899-1907 banned the use of poison
    gas and poisoned bullets
  • Following the horrors of CW in WWi, the
    Washington Arms Conference Treaty was signed on
    Feb 6, 1922, prohibiting the use of asphyxiating,
    poisonous or other gases
  • France objected to other provisions in the treaty
    and it never went into effect

23
International Policy Attempts to Eradicate
Chemical WarfareContinued
  • The 1925 Geneva Protocol also prohibited the use
    of poison gas and bacteriological methods of
    warfare
  • The protocol languished in the U.S. Senate until
    1975, when it was finally ratified

24
U.S. National Policy on Chemical Weapons
  • In May, 1991 President Bush committed the United
    States to destroy all CW and to renounce the
    right to CW retaliation
  • Congress has since passed legislation requiring
    the destruction of the entire stockpile by
    December 31, 2004.
  • The U.S. declared policy is to support the
    Chemical Weapons Convention as a means to achieve
    a global ban on this class of weapons and to halt
    their proliferation.
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