Chemical Weapons

Chemical weapons: documented use and compounds on the horizon
* Chantal Bismutha, 
* Stephen W Borronb, c, , , 
* Frederic J Baudd, 
* Patrick Barriote
* a Hôpital Fernand Widal, Université Paris VII, 200 rue du Fg-St-Denis, 75475 Paris, France
* b School of Medicine, George Washington University, 1025 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 1000, Washington, DC 20036-5417, USA
*c INSERM, U26 200 rue du Fg-St-Denis, 75475 Paris, France
* d Medical and Toxicological Intensive Care, Hôpital Fernand Widal, Université Paris VII, INSERM U26 200 rue du Fg-St-Denis, 75475 Paris, France
* e French Civil Defence, and Anaesthesiologist, 34600 Bedarieux, France
* Available online 7 February 2004.
* http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2003.12.016, How to Cite or Link UsingDOI
* Permissions & Reprints

Abstract
Man’s inhumanity to man is expressed through a plethora of tools of modern warfare and terror. The use of chemical and biological weapons with the goals of assault, demoralisation and lethality has been documented in recent history, both on the battlefield and in urban terror against civilians. A general review of a few of the currently employedchemical weapons and biological toxins, along with a look at potential chemical weapons and tools of counter-terrorism, follows. While these weapons are fearsome elements, the dangers should be viewed in the context of the widespread availability and efficacy of conventional weapons.
Keywords
* Chemical weapons; 
* Conventional weapons; 
* Terrorism; 
* Warfare; 
* Toxins; 
*Toxicants

1. Introduction
In 1942, Winston Churchill declared, “(in war) the latest refinements of science are linked with the cruelties of the Stone Age.” Without a doubt, Churchill was referring to man’s growing capacity to go beyond the “conventional” into the realm of biological and chemical weapons. If his statement suggests a disdain on his part for these weapons, it did not prevent himfrom giving a green light for research on them. The British resumed work on mustard gas, a vesicant with the capacity for cutaneous penetration, already used during the war of 1914–1918, to overcome the protection insured by the gas mask against the suffocating agents based mostly on chlorine (mortality 2%) (Lachaux and Delhomme, 1985). In the end, the programs concerning development of theatomic bomb in the USA were communicated to its allies. In fact, although the Germans had synthesised and produced the anticholinesterase nerve agents tabun and sarin between the two wars (Table 1), the only chemical used in the second world war as a mass-murder weapon was cyanide. Cyanide was employed only in the closed areas of concentration camps and not on the battle field, where its volatilitywould have reduced its toxic potential.
Table 1. A brief history of chemical warfare and terrorism
1917–1918 | Germany employs chlorine, phosgene, and sulphur mustard in World War I |
1936 | German chemist Gerhard Schrader synthesises tabun |
1937 | Schrader and colleagues synthesise sarin (an acronym for group members’ names) |
1940–1945 | Germany employs zyklon B, a form of hydrogencyanide, in their gas chambers |
1942 | Germany begins producing nerve agents at Dyhenfurth, which were never employed |
1978 | Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov assassinated in London by ricin injection |
1984 | Iraq employs nerve agents and mustard against Iranian troops |
1988 | Iraq employs various chemical agents against Kurdish rebels |
1994 | Aum Shinrikyo attacks apartment complex in Japanwith sarin (300 injuries, 7 deaths) |
1995 | Aum Shinrkyo launches multifocal Tokyo subway system attack with sarin (1500 require medical treatment, 12 deaths) |
In this self-limitation of chemical weapons use by the belligerents, several factors may play a role:
•
the difficulty for militarization of these various unconventional arms;
•
the fear that their use might lead to retaliation...