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94-551: Operations at the depot began in January 1942, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially activated the site as the Memphis General Depot. The depot provided supplies including clothing, food, medical supplies, electronic equipment, petroleum products, and industrial chemicals. It had 130 buildings and over 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m) of indoor storage. Eventually, the disposal of chemicals began at

188-473: A thickener , which gives it a tar-like viscosity. When the content of the SprüBü37 comes in contact with water, only the mustard gas in the outer layers of the lumps of viscous mustard hydrolyzes , leaving behind amber-colored residues that still contain most of the active mustard gas. On mechanically breaking these lumps (e.g., with the drag board of a fishing net or by the human hand) the enclosed mustard gas

282-453: A "plop" rather than exploding, being initially dismissed as dud high explosive or shrapnel shells, giving the gas time to work before the soldiers were alerted and took precautions. The major drawback of artillery delivery was the difficulty of achieving a killing concentration. Each shell had a small gas payload and an area would have to be subjected to saturation bombardment to produce a cloud to match cylinder delivery. A British solution to

376-478: A diagnosis of chemical poisoning in hospitalized victims. The presence in urine of 1,1'-sulfonylbismethylthioethane (SBMTE), a conjugation product with glutathione, is considered a more specific marker, since this metabolite is not found in specimens from unexposed persons. In one case, intact mustard gas was detected in postmortem fluids and tissues of a man who died one week post-exposure. Notes Chemical warfare Chemical warfare ( CW ) involves using

470-442: A few minutes or hours or even only a few seconds. Purely gaseous agents such as chlorine are nonpersistent, as are highly volatile agents such as sarin. Tactically, nonpersistent agents are very useful against targets that are to be taken over and controlled very quickly. Apart from the agent used, the delivery mode is very important. To achieve a nonpersistent deployment, the agent is dispersed into very small droplets comparable with

564-517: A gas, and therefore present primarily a contact hazard. The droplet size used for persistent delivery goes up to 1 mm increasing the falling speed and therefore about 80% of the deployed agent reaches the ground, resulting in heavy contamination. Deployment of persistent agents is intended to constrain enemy operations by denying access to contaminated areas. Possible targets include enemy flank positions (averting possible counterattacks), artillery regiments, command posts or supply lines. Because it

658-588: A grenade with K-51 aerosol CS gas from an unmanned drone. Although crude chemical warfare has been employed in many parts of the world for thousands of years, "modern" chemical warfare began during World War I – see Chemical weapons in World War I . Initially, only well-known commercially available chemicals and their variants were used. These included chlorine and phosgene gas. The methods used to disperse these agents during battle were relatively unrefined and inefficient. Even so, casualties could be heavy, due to

752-544: A long history of use as chemical weapons . The name mustard gas is technically incorrect; the substances, when dispersed , are often not gases but a fine mist of liquid droplets that can be readily absorbed through the skin and by inhalation. The skin can be affected by contact with either the liquid or vapor. The rate of penetration into skin is proportional to dose, temperature and humidity. Sulfur mustards are viscous liquids at room temperature and have an odor resembling mustard plants , garlic , or horseradish , hence

846-451: A multitude of submunitions, so that a large number of small clouds of the chemical agent would form directly on the target. Thermal dissemination is the use of explosives or pyrotechnics to deliver chemical agents. This technique, developed in the 1920s, was a major improvement over earlier dispersal techniques, in that it allowed significant quantities of an agent to be disseminated over a considerable distance. Thermal dissemination remains

940-432: A one- to three-letter " NATO weapon designation" in addition to, or in place of, a common name. Binary munitions , in which precursors for chemical warfare agents are automatically mixed in shell to produce the agent just prior to its use, are indicated by a "-2" following the agent's designation (for example, GB-2 and VX-2). Some examples are given below: The most important factor in the effectiveness of chemical weapons

1034-571: A parallel track, after the air raid on Bari in December 1943, the doctors of the U.S. Army noted that white blood cell counts were reduced in their patients. Some years after World War II was over, the incident in Bari and the work of the Yale University group with nitrogen mustard converged, and this prompted a search for other similar chemical compounds . Due to its use in previous studies,

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1128-536: A pioneer in cocaine chemistry, repeated the reaction, and recorded blister-forming properties. In 1886, Viktor Meyer published a paper describing a synthesis that produced good yields. He combined 2-chloroethanol with aqueous potassium sulfide , and then treated the resulting thiodiglycol with phosphorus trichloride . The purity of this compound was much higher and consequently the adverse health effects upon exposure were much more severe. These symptoms presented themselves in his assistant, and in order to rule out

1222-727: A report created in 1998 by William Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency , the army created at least 26 chemical weapons dumping sites in the ocean offshore from at least 11 states on both the East Coast and the West Coast (in Operation CHASE , Operation Geranium , etc.). In addition, due to poor recordkeeping, about one-half of the sites have only their rough locations known. In June 1997, India declared its stock of chemical weapons of 1,044 tonnes (1,151 short tons) of mustard gas. By

1316-775: A rinse-wipe-rinse sequence, skin is decontaminated of mustard gas by washing with liquid soap and water, or an absorbent powder. The eyes should be thoroughly rinsed using saline or clean water. A topical analgesic is used to relieve skin pain during decontamination. The blistering effects of mustard gas can be neutralized by decontamination solutions such as "DS2" (2% NaOH , 70% diethylenetriamine , 28% 2-methoxyethanol ). For skin lesions, topical treatments, such as calamine lotion , steroids, and oral antihistamines are used to relieve itching. Larger blisters are irrigated repeatedly with saline or soapy water, then treated with an antibiotic and petroleum gauze. Mustard agent burns do not heal quickly and (as with other types of burns) present

1410-400: A risk of sepsis caused by pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The mechanisms behind mustard gas's effect on endothelial cells are still being studied, but recent studies have shown that high levels of exposure can induce high rates of both necrosis and apoptosis . In vitro tests have shown that at low concentrations of mustard gas, where apoptosis is

1504-446: A technique for delivery of phosgene in a non-explosive artillery shell. This technique overcame many of the risks of dealing with gas in cylinders. First, gas shells were independent of the wind and increased the effective range of gas, making any target within reach of guns vulnerable. Second, gas shells could be delivered without warning, especially the clear, nearly odorless phosgene—there are numerous accounts of gas shells, landing with

1598-590: A tent of propped-up sheets. Gas burns must be agonizing because usually the other cases do not complain, even with the worst wounds, but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out. Sulfur mustards readily eliminate chloride ions by intramolecular nucleophilic substitution to form cyclic sulfonium ions. These very reactive intermediates tend to permanently alkylate nucleotides in DNA strands, which can prevent cellular division, leading to programmed cell death . Alternatively, if cell death

1692-493: A weapon of mass destruction for mustard gas is 30,000 lb (14,000 kg). Typically Marines and other coalition forces discovered caches of 25,000 pounds (11,000 kg) located across a road from 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) caches as multiple memoirs attest. These were discovered by the assistance of host country allies, or through leaks affecting personnel in an area with a weapon and gas cache called an ASP. New detection techniques are being developed in order to detect

1786-586: Is considered chemical warfare under the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Under this convention, any toxic chemical, regardless of its origin, is considered a chemical weapon unless it is used for purposes that are not prohibited (an important legal definition known as the General Purpose Criterion ). About 70 different chemicals have been used or were stockpiled as chemical warfare agents during

1880-481: Is called a chemical warfare agent ( CWA ). About 70 different chemicals have been used or stockpiled as chemical warfare agents during the 20th and 21st centuries. These agents may be in liquid, gas or solid form. Liquid agents that evaporate quickly are said to be volatile or have a high vapor pressure . Many chemical agents are volatile organic compounds so they can be dispersed over a large region quickly. The earliest target of chemical warfare agent research

1974-530: Is known as chemical warfare , and this kind of warfare was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925 , and also by the later Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 . The latter agreement also prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and sale of such weapons. In September 2012, a US official stated that the rebel militant group ISIS was manufacturing and using mustard gas in Syria and Iraq, which

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2068-491: Is not immediate, the damaged DNA can lead to the development of cancer. Oxidative stress would be another pathology involved in mustard gas toxicity. In the wider sense, compounds with the structural element BC 2 H 4 X, where X is any leaving group and B is a Lewis base , are known as mustards . Such compounds can form cyclic "onium" ions (sulfonium, ammonium , etc.) that are good alkylating agents . Other such compounds are bis(2-haloethyl)ethers ( oxygen mustards ),

2162-587: Is not necessary to deliver large quantities of the agent in a short period of time, a wide variety of weapons systems can be used. A special form of persistent agents are thickened agents. These comprise a common agent mixed with thickeners to provide gelatinous, sticky agents. Primary targets for this kind of use include airfields, due to the increased persistency and difficulty of decontaminating affected areas. Chemical weapons are agents that come in four categories: choking , blister , blood and nerve . The agents are organized into several categories according to

2256-469: Is prohibited under international humanitarian law by the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 . The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits signatories from acquiring, stockpiling, developing, and using chemical weapons in all circumstances except for very limited purposes (research, medical, pharmaceutical or protective). Chemical warfare is different from

2350-453: Is still as active as it had been at the time the weapon was dumped. These lumps, when washed ashore, can be mistaken for amber, which can lead to severe health problems. Artillery shells containing mustard gas and other toxic ammunition from World War I (as well as conventional explosives) can still be found in France and Belgium. These were formerly disposed of by explosion undersea, but since

2444-414: Is still difficult to achieve effective dispersion. The dissemination is highly dependent on atmospheric conditions because many chemical agents act in gaseous form. Thus, weather observations and forecasting are essential to optimize weapon delivery and reduce the risk of injuring friendly forces. Dispersion is placing the chemical agent upon or adjacent to a target immediately before dissemination, so that

2538-432: Is the efficiency of its delivery, or dissemination, to a target. The most common techniques include munitions (such as bombs, projectiles, warheads) that allow dissemination at a distance and spray tanks which disseminate from low-flying aircraft. Developments in the techniques of filling and storage of munitions have also been important. Although there have been many advances in chemical weapon delivery since World War I, it

2632-654: The Brook Islands National Park , was chosen to simulate Pacific islands held by the Imperial Japanese Army . These experiments were the subject of the documentary film Keen as Mustard . The United States tested sulfur mustards and other chemical agents including nitrogen mustards and lewisite on up to 60,000 servicemen during and after WWII. The experiments were classified secret and as with Agent Orange , claims for medical care and compensation were routinely denied, even after

2726-657: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Unexploded shells containing mustard gases and other chemical agents are still present in several test ranges in proximity to schools in the Edgewood area, but the smaller amounts of poison gas (4 to 14 pounds (1.8 to 6.4 kg)) present considerably lower risks. These remnants are being detected and excavated systematically for disposal. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency oversaw disposal of several other chemical weapons stockpiles located across

2820-516: The Industrial Age . It was not until the 19th century that the modern conception of chemical warfare emerged, as various scientists and nations proposed the use of asphyxiating or poisonous gasses. Multiple international treaties were passed banning chemical weapons based upon the alarm of nations and scientists. This however did not prevent the extensive use of chemical weapons in World War I . The development of chlorine gas , among others,

2914-620: The Iran–Iraq War , resulting in more than 100,000 casualties. Sulfur-based and nitrogen-based mustard agents are regulated under Schedule 1 of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention , as substances with few uses other than in chemical warfare . Mustard agents can be deployed by means of artillery shells , aerial bombs , rockets , or by spraying from aircraft. Mustard gases have powerful blistering effects on victims. They are also carcinogenic and mutagenic alkylating agents . Their high lipophilicity accelerates their absorption into

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3008-631: The Kuomintang and Chinese communist troops, the People's Liberation Army . However, the Nazis did extensively use poison gas against civilians, mostly the genocide of European Jews , in The Holocaust . Vast quantities of Zyklon B gas and carbon monoxide were used in the gas chambers of Nazi extermination camps , resulting in the overwhelming majority of some three million deaths. This remains

3102-578: The Marrangaroo Army Base just west of Sydney, Australia. In 2009, a mining survey near Chinchilla, Queensland , uncovered 144 105-millimeter howitzer shells, some containing "Mustard H", that had been buried by the U.S. Army during World War II. In 2014, a collection of 200 bombs was found near the Flemish villages of Passendale and Moorslede . The majority of the bombs were filled with mustard agents. The bombs were left over from

3196-687: The Presidio of San Francisco , a former military base. In 2010, a clamming boat pulled up some old artillery shells of World War I from the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island, New York . Multiple fishermen suffered from blistering and respiratory irritation severe enough to require hospitalization. From 1943 to 1944, mustard agent experiments were performed on Australian service volunteers in tropical Queensland, Australia , by Royal Australian Engineers , British Army and American experimenters, resulting in some severe injuries. One test site,

3290-716: The Tokyo subway sarin attack and the Matsumoto incident . See also chemical terrorism . In the 21st century, the Ba'athist regime in Syria has used chemical weapons against civilian populations, resulting in numerous deadly chemical attacks during the Syrian civil war . The Syrian government has used sarin, chlorine, and mustard gas in the Syrian civil war – mostly against civilians. Russia has used chemical weapons during its invasion of Ukraine . This has been done mainly by dropping

3384-569: The lethal dose causes incapacitation, e.g., through nausea or visual problems. The distinction between lethal and incapacitating substances is not fixed, but relies on a statistical average called the LD 50 . Chemical warfare agents can be classified according to their persistency , a measure of the length of time that a chemical agent remains effective after dissemination. Chemical agents are classified as persistent or nonpersistent . Agents classified as nonpersistent lose effectiveness after only

3478-408: The respiratory system , damaging mucous membranes and causing pulmonary edema . Depending on the level of contamination, mustard agent burns can vary between first and second degree burns . They can also be as severe, disfiguring, and dangerous as third degree burns . Some 80% of sulfur mustard in contact with the skin evaporates, while 10% stays in the skin and 10% is absorbed and circulated in

3572-652: The tear-producer ethyl bromoacetate , and was used in autumn 1914 – with little effect on the Germans. The German military contrarily tried to increase the effect of 10.5 cm shrapnel shells by adding an irritant – dianisidine chlorosulfonate . Its use against the British at Neuve Chapelle in October 1914 went unnoticed by them. Hans Tappen, a chemist in the Heavy Artillery Department of

3666-475: The toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons . This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare , biological warfare and radiological warfare , which together make up CBRN , the military acronym for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (warfare or weapons), all of which are considered " weapons of mass destruction " (WMDs), a term that contrasts with conventional weapons . The use of chemical weapons in international armed conflicts

3760-488: The (2-haloethyl)amines ( nitrogen mustards ), and sesquimustard , which has two α-chloroethyl thioether groups (ClC 2 H 4 S−) connected by an ethylene bridge (−C 2 H 4 −). These compounds have a similar ability to alkylate DNA, but their physical properties vary. In its history, various types and mixtures of mustard gas have been employed. These include: Mustard gases were possibly developed as early as 1822 by César-Mansuète Despretz (1798–1863). Despretz described

3854-534: The 20th century. The entire class, known as Lethal Unitary Chemical Agents and Munitions , has been scheduled for elimination by the CWC. Under the convention, chemicals that are toxic enough to be used as chemical weapons, or that may be used to manufacture such chemicals, are divided into three groups according to their purpose and treatment: Chemical weapons are divided into three categories: Simple chemical weapons were used sporadically throughout antiquity and into

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3948-595: The American Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to finance the biology and chemistry departments at Yale University to conduct research on the use of chemical warfare during World War II. As a part of this effort, the group investigated nitrogen mustard as a therapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma and other types of lymphoma and leukemia , and this compound was tried out on its first human patient in December 1942. The results of this study were not published until 1946, when they were declassified. In

4042-562: The British Broadcasting Corporation for various World War One history programs; however, the effectiveness of this measure is unclear. Mustard gas can remain in the ground for weeks, and it continues to cause ill effects. If mustard agent contaminates one's clothing and equipment while cold, then other people with whom they share an enclosed space could become poisoned as contaminated items warm up enough material to become an airborne toxic agent. An example of this

4136-734: The German army and were meant to be used in the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I. It was the largest collection of chemical weapons ever found in Belgium. A large amount of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, was found in a neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The cleanup was completed in 2021. In 2002, an archaeologist at the Presidio Trust archaeology lab in San Francisco was exposed to mustard gas, which had been dug up at

4230-664: The Meyer-Clarke method because 2-chloroethanol was readily available from the German dye industry of that time. Mustard gas was first used in World War I by the German army against British and Canadian soldiers near Ypres , Belgium, on July 12, 1917, and later also against the French Second Army . Yperite is "a name used by the French, because the compound was first used at Ypres." The Allies did not use mustard gas until November 1917 at Cambrai , France, after

4324-697: The Nazis, despite the considerable efforts that had gone into developing new varieties, might have been a lack of technical ability or fears that the Allies would retaliate with their own chemical weapons. Those fears were not unfounded: the Allies made comprehensive plans for defensive and retaliatory use of chemical weapons, and stockpiled large quantities. Japanese forces, as part of the Axis, used them more widely, though only against their Asian enemies, as they also feared that using it on Western powers would result in retaliation. Chemical weapons were frequently used against

4418-568: The Russians at the Battle of Bolimów on January 31, 1915; the liquid failed to vaporize in the cold weather, and again the experiment went unnoticed by the Allies. The first effective use were when the German forces at the Second Battle of Ypres simply opened cylinders of chlorine and allowed the wind to carry the gas across enemy lines. While simple, this technique had numerous disadvantages. Moving large numbers of heavy gas cylinders to

4512-592: The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. Disposal projects at the two remaining American chemical weapons sites were carried out near Richmond, Kentucky , and Pueblo, Colorado . Although not yet declassified, toxicology specialists who dealt with the accidental puncturing of World War I gas stockpiles add that Air Force bases in Colorado have been made available to assist veterans of the 2003 Iraq war in which many Marines were exposed to gas in caches of up to 25,000 lb (11,000 kg). The United Nations definition of

4606-621: The United States in compliance with international chemical weapons treaties. These include the complete incineration of the chemical weapons stockpiled in Alabama , Arkansas , Indiana , and Oregon . Earlier, this agency had also completed destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile located on Johnston Atoll located south of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean . The largest mustard agent stockpile, at approximately 6,200 short tons ,

4700-611: The United States' mustard agent stockpile was stored at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland . Approximately 1,621 tons of mustard agents were stored in one-ton containers on the base under heavy guard. A chemical neutralization plant was built on the proving ground and neutralized the last of this stockpile in February 2005. This stockpile had priority because of the potential for quick reduction of risk to

4794-577: The VA went without compensation. African American servicemen were tested alongside white men in separate trials to determine whether their skin color would afford them a degree of immunity to the agents, and Nisei servicemen, some of whom had joined after their release from Japanese American Internment Camps were tested to determine susceptibility of Japanese military personnel to these agents. These tests also included Puerto Rican subjects. Concentrations of thiodiglycol in urine have been used to confirm

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4888-477: The WWII-era tests were declassified in 1993. The Department of Veterans Affairs stated that it would contact 4,000 surviving test subjects but failed to do so, eventually only contacting 600. Skin cancer, severe eczema, leukemia, and chronic breathing problems plagued the test subjects, some of whom were as young as 19 at the time of the tests, until their deaths, but even those who had previously filed claims with

4982-645: The War Ministry, suggested to his brother, the Chief of the Operations Branch at German General Headquarters, the use of the tear-gases benzyl bromide or xylyl bromide . Shells were tested successfully at the Wahn artillery range near Cologne on January 9, 1915, and an order was placed for 15 cm howitzer shells, designated 'T-shells' after Tappen. A shortage of shells limited the first use against

5076-600: The armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard shells. It took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard agent weapon, with production of the chemicals centred on Avonmouth Docks (the only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–Guthrie process). This was used first in September 1918 during the breaking of the Hindenburg Line . Mustard gas was originally assigned

5170-626: The blood. The carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of exposure to mustard gas increase the risk of developing cancer later in life. In a study of patients 25 years after wartime exposure to chemical weaponry, c-DNA microarray profiling indicated that 122 genes were significantly mutated in the lungs and airways of mustard gas victims. Those genes all correspond to functions commonly affected by mustard gas exposure, including apoptosis , inflammation, and stress responses. The long-term ocular complications include burning, tearing, itching, photophobia , presbyopia , pain, and foreign-body sensations. In

5264-497: The body. Because mustard agents often do not elicit immediate symptoms, contaminated areas may appear normal. Within 24 hours of exposure, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation. If this irritation goes untreated, blisters filled with pus can form wherever the agent contacted the skin. As chemical burns , these are severely debilitating. If the victim's eyes were exposed, then they become sore, starting with conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye), after which

5358-565: The community. The nearest schools were fitted with overpressurization machinery to protect the students and faculty in the event of a catastrophic explosion and fire at the site. These projects, as well as planning, equipment, and training assistance, were provided to the surrounding community as a part of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), a joint program of the Army and

5452-467: The current environmental regulations prohibit this, the French government is building an automated factory to dispose of the accumulation of chemical shells. In 1972, the U.S. Congress banned the practice of disposing of chemical weapons into the ocean by the United States. 29,000 tons of nerve and mustard agents had already been dumped into the ocean off the United States by the U.S. Army . According to

5546-526: The deadliest use of poison gas in history. The post-war era has seen limited, though devastating, use of chemical weapons. Some 100,000 Iranian troops were casualties of Iraqi chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War . Iraq used mustard gas and nerve agents against its own civilians in the 1988 Halabja chemical attack . The Cuban intervention in Angola saw limited use of organophosphates . Terrorist groups have also used chemical weapons, notably in

5640-520: The depot has also been reused as the Memphis Depot Business Park. 35°5′11.79″N 89°59′52.58″W  /  35.0866083°N 89.9979389°W  / 35.0866083; -89.9979389 Mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide , which has the chemical structure S(CH 2 CH 2 Cl) 2 , as well as other species. In

5734-561: The end of 2006, India had destroyed more than 75 percent of its chemical weapons/material stockpile and was granted extension for destroying the remaining stocks by April 2009 and was expected to achieve 100 percent destruction within that time frame. India informed the United Nations in May 2009 that it had destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons in compliance with the international Chemical Weapons Convention. With this India has become

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5828-594: The enemy time to protect themselves, though many soldiers found the sight of a creeping gas cloud unnerving. This made the gas doubly effective, as, in addition to damaging the enemy physically, it also had a psychological effect on the intended victims. Another disadvantage was that gas clouds had limited penetration, capable only of affecting the front-line trenches before dissipating. Although it produced limited results in World War I, this technique shows how simple chemical weapon dissemination can be. Shortly after this "open canister" dissemination, French forces developed

5922-510: The eyelids swell, resulting in temporary blindness. Extreme ocular exposure to mustard gas vapors may result in corneal ulceration , anterior chamber scarring, and neovascularization . In these severe and infrequent cases, corneal transplantation has been used as a treatment. Miosis , when the pupil constricts more than usual, may also occur, which may be the result of the cholinomimetic activity of mustard. If inhaled in high concentrations, mustard agents cause bleeding and blistering within

6016-429: The front-line positions from where the gas would be released was a lengthy and difficult logistical task. Stockpiles of cylinders had to be stored at the front line, posing a great risk if hit by artillery shells. Gas delivery depended greatly on wind speed and direction. If the wind was fickle, as at the Battle of Loos , the gas could blow back, causing friendly casualties . Gas clouds gave plenty of warning, allowing

6110-399: The mainly static troop positions which were characteristic features of trench warfare . Germany, the first side to employ chemical warfare on the battlefield, simply opened canisters of chlorine upwind of the opposing side and let the prevailing winds do the dissemination. Soon after, the French modified artillery munitions to contain phosgene – a much more effective method that became

6204-419: The manner in which they affect the human body. The names and number of categories varies slightly from source to source, but in general, types of chemical warfare agents are as follows: Non-living biological proteins, such as: There are other chemicals used militarily that are not scheduled by the CWC, and thus are not controlled under the CWC treaties. These include: Most chemical weapons are assigned

6298-418: The material is most efficiently used. Dispersion is the simplest technique of delivering an agent to its target. The most common techniques are munitions, bombs, projectiles, spray tanks and warheads. World War I saw the earliest implementation of this technique. The actual first chemical ammunition was the French 26 mm cartouche suffocante rifle grenade , fired from a flare carbine . It contained 35g of

6392-481: The mist produced by an aerosol can. In this form not only the gaseous part of the agent (around 50%) but also the fine aerosol can be inhaled or absorbed through pores in the skin. Modern doctrine requires very high concentrations almost instantly in order to be effective (one breath should contain a lethal dose of the agent). To achieve this, the primary weapons used would be rocket artillery or bombs and large ballistic missiles with cluster warheads. The contamination in

6486-515: The name LOST, after the scientists Wilhelm Lommel and Wilhelm Steinkopf , who developed a method of large-scale production for the Imperial German Army in 1916. Mustard gas was dispersed as an aerosol in a mixture with other chemicals, giving it a yellow-brown color. Mustard agent has also been dispersed in such munitions as aerial bombs , land mines , mortar rounds , artillery shells , and rockets . Exposure to mustard agent

6580-490: The name. When pure, they are colorless, but when used in impure forms, such as in warfare, they are usually yellow-brown . Mustard gases form blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs, often resulting in prolonged illness ending in death. Sulfur mustard is a type of chemical warfare agent. As a chemical weapon, mustard gas was first used in World War I , and has been used in several armed conflicts since then, including

6674-464: The nitrogen mustard called "HN2" became the first cancer chemotherapy drug, chlormethine (also known as mechlorethamine, mustine) to be used. Chlormethine and other mustard gas molecules are still used to this day as an chemotherapy agent albeit they have largely been replaced with more safe chemotherapy drugs like cisplatin and carboplatin . In the United States, storage and incineration of mustard gas and other chemical weapons were carried out by

6768-584: The occasional use of chemical weapons, mainly to put down rebellions. In Nazi Germany , much research went into developing new chemical weapons, such as potent nerve agents . However, chemical weapons saw little battlefield use in World War II . Both sides were prepared to use such weapons, but the Allied Powers never did, and the Axis used them only very sparingly. The reason for the lack of use by

6862-632: The possibility that his assistant was suffering from a mental illness (psychosomatic symptoms), Meyer had this compound tested on laboratory rabbits , most of which died. In 1913, the English chemist Hans Thacher Clarke (known for the Eschweiler-Clarke reaction ) replaced the phosphorus trichloride with hydrochloric acid in Meyer's formulation while working with Emil Fischer in Berlin . Clarke

6956-444: The predominant result of exposure, pretreatment with 50 mM N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) was able to decrease the rate of apoptosis. NAC protects actin filaments from reorganization by mustard gas, demonstrating that actin filaments play a large role in the severe burns observed in victims. A British nurse treating soldiers with mustard agent burns during World War I commented: They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with

7050-460: The presence of mustard gas and its metabolites. The technology is portable and detects small quantities of the hazardous waste and its oxidized products, which are notorious for harming unsuspecting civilians. The immunochromatographic assay would eliminate the need for expensive, time-consuming lab tests and enable easy-to-read tests to protect civilians from sulfur-mustard dumping sites. In 1946, 10,000 drums of mustard gas (2,800 tonnes) stored at

7144-466: The principal means of delivery. Since the development of modern chemical warfare in World War I, nations have pursued research and development on chemical weapons that falls into four major categories: new and more deadly agents; more efficient methods of delivering agents to the target (dissemination); more reliable means of defense against chemical weapons; and more sensitive and accurate means of detecting chemical agents. The chemical used in warfare

7238-399: The principal method of disseminating chemical agents today. Most thermal dissemination devices consist of a bomb or projectile shell that contains a chemical agent and a central "burster" charge; when the burster detonates, the agent is expelled laterally. Thermal dissemination devices, though common, are not particularly efficient. First, a percentage of the agent is lost by incineration in

7332-487: The problem was the Livens Projector . This was effectively a large-bore mortar, dug into the ground that used the gas cylinders themselves as projectiles – firing a 14 kg cylinder up to 1500 m. This combined the gas volume of cylinders with the range of artillery. Over the years, there were some refinements in this technique. In the 1950s and early 1960s, chemical artillery rockets and cluster bombs contained

7426-686: The production facility of Stormont Chemicals in Cornwall, Ontario , Canada, were loaded onto 187 boxcars for the 900 miles (1,400 km) journey to be buried at sea on board a 400 foot (120 m) long barge 40 miles (64 km) south of Sable Island , southeast of Halifax , at a depth of 600 fathoms (1,100 m). The dump location is 42 degrees, 50 minutes north by 60 degrees, 12 minutes west. A large British stockpile of old mustard agent that had been made and stored since World War I at M. S. Factory, Valley near Rhydymwyn in Flintshire , Wales,

7520-491: The reaction of sulfur dichloride and ethylene but never made mention of any irritating properties of the reaction product. In 1854, another French chemist, Alfred Riche (1829–1908), repeated this procedure, also without describing any adverse physiological properties. In 1860, the British scientist Frederick Guthrie synthesized and characterized the mustard agent compound and noted its irritating properties, especially in tasting. Also in 1860, chemist Albert Niemann , known as

7614-621: The site. This included the disposal of leaking mustard bombs at Dunn Field , a field located on the property. From 1942 until 1962 the installation performed Army supply and was known variously as the Memphis Quartermaster Depot, Memphis Army Service Forces Depot, and the Memphis General Depot. In 1992, the 632-acre base was placed on the list of Superfund sites maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because "chemicals from

7708-440: The target area is only low or not existent and after four hours sarin or similar agents are not detectable anymore. By contrast, persistent agents tend to remain in the environment for as long as several weeks, complicating decontamination. Defense against persistent agents requires shielding for extended periods of time. Nonvolatile liquid agents, such as blister agents and the oily VX nerve agent, do not easily evaporate into

7802-421: The third country after South Korea and Albania to do so. This was cross-checked by inspectors of the United Nations. Producing or stockpiling mustard gas is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention . When the convention entered force in 1997, the parties declared worldwide stockpiles of 17,440 tonnes of mustard gas. As of December 2015, 86% of these stockpiles had been destroyed. A significant portion of

7896-423: The use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive force . The offensive use of living organisms (such as anthrax ) is considered biological warfare rather than chemical warfare; however, the use of nonliving toxic products produced by living organisms (e.g. toxins such as botulinum toxin , ricin , and saxitoxin )

7990-450: The wastes that were released on site resulted in contaminated soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment." According to the EPA, significant cleanup has been achieved. In 1995, the depot was placed on the closure list of the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission and on September 30, 1997, it was closed. Since that year, 94% of the facilities have been returned to public use. Part of

8084-598: The wider sense, compounds with the substituents −SCH 2 CH 2 X or −N(CH 2 CH 2 X) 2 are known as sulfur mustards or nitrogen mustards , respectively, where X = Cl or Br. Such compounds are potent alkylating agents , making mustard gas acutely and severely toxic. Mustard gas is a carcinogen . There is no preventative agent against mustard gas, with protection depending entirely on skin and airways protection, and no antidote exists for mustard poisoning. Also known as mustard agents, this family of compounds comprises infamous cytotoxins and blister agents with

8178-504: Was allegedly confirmed by the group's head of chemical weapons development, Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, who has since been captured. As early as 1919 it was known that mustard agent was a suppressor of hematopoiesis . In addition, autopsies performed on 75 soldiers who had died of mustard agent during World War I were done by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania who reported decreased counts of white blood cells . This led

8272-577: Was depicted in a British and Canadian documentary about life in the trenches, particularly once the "sousterrain" (subways and berthing areas underground) were completed in Belgium and France. Towards the end of World War I, mustard agent was used in high concentrations as an area-denial weapon that forced troops to abandon heavily contaminated areas. Since World War I, mustard gas has been used in several wars and other conflicts, usually against people who cannot retaliate in kind: The use of toxic gases or other chemicals, including mustard gas, during warfare

8366-621: Was destroyed in 1958. Most of the mustard gas found in Germany after World War II was dumped into the Baltic Sea . Between 1966 and 2002, fishermen have found about 700 chemical weapons in the region of Bornholm , most of which contain mustard gas. One of the more frequently dumped weapons was "Sprühbüchse 37" (SprüBü37, Spray Can 37, 1937 being the year of its fielding with the German Army). These weapons contain mustard gas mixed with

8460-553: Was hospitalized for two months for burns after one of his flasks broke. According to Meyer, Fischer's report on this accident to the German Chemical Society sent the German Empire on the road to chemical weapons. Mustard gas can have the effect of turning a patient's skin different colors, including shades of red, orange, pink, and in unusual cases, blue. The German Empire during World War I relied on

8554-554: Was lethal in about 1% of cases. Its effectiveness was as an incapacitating agent . The early countermeasures against mustard agent were relatively ineffective, since a soldier wearing a gas mask was not protected against absorbing it through his skin and being blistered. A common countermeasure was using a urine-soaked mask or facecloth to prevent or reduce injury, a readily available remedy attested by soldiers in documentaries (e.g. They Shall Not Grow Old in 2018) and others (such as forward aid nurses) interviewed between 1947 and 1981 by

8648-434: Was not toxicity, but development of agents that can affect a target through the skin and clothing, rendering protective gas masks useless. In July 1917, the Germans employed sulfur mustard . Mustard agents easily penetrate leather and fabric to inflict painful burns on the skin. Chemical warfare agents are divided into lethal and incapacitating categories. A substance is classified as incapacitating if less than 1/100 of

8742-552: Was stored at the Deseret Chemical Depot in northern Utah . The incineration of this stockpile began in 2006. In May 2011, the last of the mustard agents in the stockpile were incinerated at the Deseret Chemical Depot, and the last artillery shells containing mustard gas were incinerated in January 2012. In 2008, many empty aerial bombs that contained mustard gas were found in an excavation at

8836-412: Was used by both sides to try to break the stalemate of trench warfare . Though largely ineffective over the long run, it decidedly changed the nature of the war. In many cases the gasses used did not kill, but instead horribly maimed, injured, or disfigured casualties. Some 1.3 million gas casualties were recorded, which may have included up to 260,000 civilian casualties. The interwar years saw

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