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Effects depend on the substance; hydrogen peroxide removes a bleached layer of skin, while nitric acid causes a characteristic color change to yellow in the skin, and silver nitrate produces noticeable black stains. Chemical burns may occur through direct contact on body surfaces, including skin and eyes, via inhalation, and/or by ingestion.
All blister agents currently known are denser than air, and are readily absorbed through the eyes, lungs, and skin. Effects of the two mustard agents are typically delayed: exposure to vapors becomes evident in 4 to 6 hours, and skin exposure in 2 to 48 hours. The effects of Lewisite are immediate.
From one acute exposure, someone who has inhaled lewisite can develop chronic respiratory disease; eye exposure to lewisite can cause permanent visual impairment or blindness. [5] Chronic exposure to lewisite can cause arsenic poisoning (due to its arsenic content) and development of a lewisite allergy.
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.
Sulfur mustard is a vesicant alkylating agent with strong cytotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties. After exposure, victims show skin irritations and blisters. [18] [19] This agent also causes respiratory tract lesions, bone marrow depression, and eye damage, the epithelial tissues of these organs being predominately affected ...
Eye exposure to lewisite can cause permanent visual impairment or blindness. [4] The eyes can swell shut, which can keep the eyes safe from further exposure. The most severe consequences of eye exposure to lewisite are globe perforation and blindness. [4] Generalised symptoms also include restlessness, weakness, hypothermia and low blood pressure.
However, the onset of skin irritation resulting from CX exposure is a great deal faster than mustard gas, which typically takes several hours or more to cause skin irritation. Eyes: Eye examination typically demonstrates conjunctivitis, lacrimation, lid edema, and blepharospasm after even minute exposures.
The effect of vesicant (blister) agents in the form of mustard gas (sulfur mustard, Bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide) on bone marrow and white blood cells had been known since the First World War. [16] In 1935 several lines of chemical and biological research yielded results that would be explored after the start of the Second World War.