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The carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of exposure to mustard gas increase the risk of developing cancer later in life. [3] 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.
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.
Lewisite was replaced by the mustard gas variant HT (a 60:40 mixture of sulfur mustard and O-Mustard), and was declared obsolete in the 1950s. Lewisite poisoning can be treated effectively with British anti-lewisite (dimercaprol). Most stockpiles of lewisite were neutralised with bleach and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. [25]
A chemical weapon agent (CWA), or chemical warfare agent, is a chemical substance whose toxic properties are meant to kill, injure or incapacitate human beings.About 70 different chemicals have been used or stockpiled as chemical weapon agents during the 20th century, although the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has an online database listing 35,942 chemicals which ...
Additionally, chemical burns can be caused by biological toxins (such as anthrax toxin) and by some types of cytotoxic chemical weapons, e.g., vesicants such as mustard gas and Lewisite, or urticants such as phosgene oxime. Chemical burns may: need no source of heat; occur immediately on contact; not be immediately evident or noticeable; be ...
It is a colorless gas under ordinary conditions. It has a vapor density 3.4 times greater than that of air, allowing it to remain low in the air for long periods of times. Phosgene leads to massive pulmonary edema, which reaches maximum symptoms in 12 hours after exposure, followed by death within 24 to 48 hours.
The idealized combustion of mustard gas in oxygen produces hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, in addition to carbon dioxide and water: (ClC 2 H 4) 2 S + 7 O 2 → 4 CO 2 + 2 H 2 O + 2 HCl + H 2 SO 4. Bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide reacts with sodium hydroxide, giving divinyl sulfide: (ClC 2 H 4) 2 S + 2 NaOH → (CH 2 =CH) 2 S + 2 H 2 O + 2 NaCl ...
Depending on the type and amount of irritant gas inhaled, victims can experience symptoms ranging from minor respiratory discomfort to acute airway and lung injury and even death. A common response cascade to a variety of irritant gases includes inflammation , edema and epithelial sloughing , which if left untreated can result in scar formation ...