Sarin is generally considered a weapon of mass destruction. Production and stockpiling of sarin was outlawed as of April 1997 by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, and it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance.
Chemical weapons were not used by the U.S. or the other Allies during World War II; however, quantities of such weapons were deployed to Europe for use in case Germany initiated chemical warfare.
Despite the World War I-era interest in ricin, as World War II erupted, the United States Army still maintained the position that biological weapons were, for the most part, impractical. Other nations, notably France, Japan and the United Kingdom, thought otherwise and had begun their own biological weapons programs.
The most dangerous of these are nerve agents (GA, GB, GD, and VX) and vesicant (blister) agents, which include formulations of sulfur mustard such as H, HT, and HD.
The Nazis' decision to avoid the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield has been variously attributed to a lack of technical ability in the German chemical weapons program and fears that the Allies would retaliate with their own chemical weapons.
Entitled Valley of Death, the report claimed that US air support had used sarin nerve gas against opponents, and that other war crimes had been committed by US forces during Tailwind.
Pepper spray (also known as capsaicin spray or capsicum spray) is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, crowd control, and self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears.
The gas reacts quickly with water in the airways to form hydrochloric acid, swelling and blocking lung tissue, and causing suffocation. The most widely used, mustard gas, could kill by blistering the lungs and throat if inhaled in large quantities.
In warfare, such as in the 1991 Gulf War, US troops protect themselves against chemical weapons with gear such as gas masks, helmet covers, rubber gloves, battledress over-garment (BDO), hoods and over-boots. During the first world war, the Germans used bleaching powder to treat their soldiers' contaminated skin.
Several drugs derived from mustard agents are still used today to treat cancer, including one known as Mustargen (mechlorethamine). Canadian soldier in France during World War I.
"That meant, for example, in America, there were tens of thousands of people who were scarred by exposure to mustard agent in World War I." Reaction to those deaths and injuries was swift. By 1925, the League of Nations had approved the Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of chemical weapons.
* Mustard Gas is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS POISON GAS and contact with the liquid or exposure to high vapor concentrations can cause severe eye burns and permanent eye damage. * Breathing Mustard Gas can irritate the lungs causing coughing and/or shortness of breath.
Regardless of the route of exposure, nerve agents can cause the following characteristic effects:
- pinpoint pupils of the eye.
- excessive production of mucous, tears, saliva and sweat.
- headache.
- stomach pain, nausea and vomiting.
- chest tightness and shortness of breath.
- loss of bladder and bowel control.
- muscle twitching.
Sarin is a human-made chemical warfare agent classified as a nerve agent. Nerve agents are the most toxic and rapidly acting of the known chemical warfare agents. Sarin is a clear, colorless, and tasteless liquid that has no odor in its pure form.
The Nazis Developed Sarin Gas During WWII, But Hitler Was Afraid to Use It. Even as his Nazi regime was exterminating millions in the gas chambers, Adolf Hitler resisted calls to use the deadly nerve agent against his military adversaries. Hitler certainly had the opportunity to use sarin in World War II.
The first killing agent was chlorine, used by the German military. Chlorine is a powerful irritant that can inflict damage to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. At high concentrations and prolonged exposure it can cause death by asphyxiation.
Nerve agents attack the nervous system. Initial symptoms following exposure to nerve agents (like sarin) are a runny nose, tightness in the chest, and constriction of the pupils. Soon after, the victim will have difficulty breathing and will experience nausea and salivation.
What Countries Have Them? Only 16 countries plus Taiwan have had or are currently suspected of having biological weapons programs: Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Libya, North Korea, Russia, South Africa, Syria, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Russia has stored its chemical weapons (or the required chemicals) which it declared within the CWC at 8 locations: in Gorny (Saratov Oblast) (2.9% of the declared stockpile by mass) and Kambarka (Udmurt Republic) (15.9%) stockpiles already have been destroyed.
At the same time, Egyptian officials regularly state that Egypt does not possess or seek to obtain biological weapons. Sources: [1] Julian Perry Robinson, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare: Volume II: CB Weapons Today (Stockholm: SIPRI, 1973), p. 241.
The United Kingdom possesses, or has possessed, a variety of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The United Kingdom is one of the five official nuclear weapon states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has an independent nuclear deterrent.
The German military launches the first large-scale use of chemical weapons in war at Ypres, Belgium.
The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large scale use of chemical weapons was during World War I. They were primarily used to demoralize, injure, and kill entrenched defenders, against whom the indiscriminate and generally very slow-moving or static nature of gas clouds
White phosphorus munitions are weapons which use one of the common allotropes of the chemical element phosphorus. White phosphorus is pyrophoric (self-ignites on contact with air), burns fiercely, and can ignite cloth, fuel, ammunition, and other combustibles.
Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), though they are distinct from nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and radiological weapons. All may be used in warfare and are known by the military acronym NBC (for nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare).
Sulfur mustard is a type of chemical warfare agent. These kinds of agents cause blistering of the skin and mucous membranes on contact. They are called vesicants or blistering agents. Sulfur mustard is also known as “mustard gas or mustard agent,” or by the military designations H, HD, and HT.
An estimated 100,000–260,000 civilian casualties were caused by chemical weapons during the conflict and tens of thousands (along with military personnel) died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage in the years after the conflict ended.
Exposure is lethal even at very low concentrations, where death
can occur within
one-to-ten minutes after direct inhalation of a lethal dose, due to suffocation from lung muscle paralysis, unless antidotes are quickly administered.
Sarin.
| Names |
|---|
| NIOSH (US health exposure limits): |
| IDLH (Immediate danger) | 0.1 mg/m3 |
The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts.
For some time, Syria was believed to have the world's third-largest stockpile of chemical weapons, after the United States and Russia. Prior to September 2013 Syria had not publicly admitted to possessing chemical weapons, although Western intelligence services believed it to hold one of the world's largest stockpiles.
The U.S. Army's Chemical Materials Agency oversaw the destruction of just over 28,364 tons of chemical weapons—nearly 90 percent of the U.S. stockpile—for an estimated cost of $28 billion. That's about $1 billion per 1,000 tons.
About 70 different chemicals have been used or stockpiled as chemical warfare agents during the 20th century. The entire class known as Lethal Unitary Chemical Agents and Munitions have been scheduled for elimination by the CWC.
The most important factor in the effectiveness of chemical weapons 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.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction within a specified period of time. The treaty is of unlimited duration and is far more comprehensive than the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which outlaws the use but not the possession of chemical weapons.
Types Of Chemical Weapons
“Tabun,” the first nerve agent, was invented in the 1930s by German chemist Gerhard Schrader.
