Chemical and Biological Warfare
Chemical and biological warfare has been in the news lately with countries like Israel and Russia using them on civilians and threats of Iran deploying them would war break out. So what are the differences?
Let’s start with chemical warfare. Chemical warfare was first used in World War I, where gas warfare cause over a million casualties and killed an estimated 90.000. Since then chemical warfare has been used several times, think of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and the Syrian Civil War. Both the US and Russia have built up an enormous stockpile of chemical weapons. Essentially, chemical warfare, or chemical weapons, are weapons of mass destruction. The usage is prohibited in war as well as the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, and transfer of such weapons. Chemical weapons are either gaseous, liquid or solid, they become weapons when they are placed in artillery shells, land mines, aerial bombs, missile warheads, mortar shells, grenades, or spray tanks.
Chemical weapons are “a chemical used to cause intentional death or harm through its toxic properties. Munitions, devices and other equipment specifically designed to weaponize toxic chemicals also fall under the definition of chemical weapons”. Chemical warfare is composed of four categories: choking agents, blister agents, blood agents, and nerve agents. Choking agents irritate the nose, throat, and lungs when inhaled and often include include Chlorine (Cl), Chloropicrin (PS), Diphosgene (DP), and Phosgene (CG). Choking agents were first employed by the German army and later the Allied forces in WWI. They released chlorine gas from cylinders at Ypres, Belgium, which created a wind-borne chemical cloud that affected unprepared French and Algerian units. Phosgene was responsible for roughly 80% of death caused by chemical weapons in WWI. Choking agents are delivered as gas clouds to the target area, where the inhalation of the gas triggers the immune system, causing fluids to build up in the lungs, causing you to die of asphyxiation or oxygen deficiency. It can take up to three hours to die (lovely!).
Blister agents affect the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin and include Sulfur Mustard (H, HD), Nitrogen Mustard (HN), Lewisite (L), and Phosgene Oxime (CX). Blister agents were also developed in WWI, with the primary weapons being mustard gas. It’s either a liquid or vapour form and it burns the skin, eyes, windpipe, and lungs. The physical results depend on the level of exposure and therefore are either immediate or might appear after several hours. Blister agents seldom kill but cause long term damage.
Blood agents inhibit the ability of cells to use oxygen and include Hydrogen Cyanide (AC), Cyanogen Chloride (CK), and Arsine (SA). Blood agents are designed to be delivered to the targeted area in the form of a vapour. When inhaled they prevent the transfer of oxygen to the cells, which causes the body to asphyxiate. They basically cause the red blood cells to not receive the necessary oxygen, leading to a death similar of carbon monoxide.
Nerve agents block the Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme in the nervous system, which causes hyper-stimulation of muscles and includes Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), Cyclosarin (GF), and venomous agent X (VX). A single drop on the skin or inhaled into the lungs can cause the brain to shut down muscles, including the paralysation of the heart. Poisoning by nerve agents causes intense sweating, filling of the bronchial passages with mucus, dimming of your vision, uncontrollable vomiting and defecation, convulsions, and finally paralysis and respiratory failure. Death tends to result from asphyxia, generally within a few minutes of respiratory exposure or within hours if exposed to the liquid agent on the skin. Nerve agents were first produced in the 1930s and during WWII. In the 1950s Britain developed the deadliest form of nerve agents. A pleasurable affair therefore.
Biological warfare or biological weapons are either microorganisms like virus, bacteria, or fungi, or toxic substances produced by living organisms that are produced and released deliberately to cause death and disease in humans, animals, or plants. For example anthrax, botulinum toxin and plague can cause several public health challenges causing a large number of deaths in a short amount of time. If they are capable of secondary transmission they can even lead to epidemics. Historically, over the past century more than 500 million people died of infectious diseases, and several tens of thousands of these deaths were due to the deliberate release of pathogens or toxins. Japan used biological weapons in WWII, with Unit 731 being an example, where they bread plague-infected fleas and spread them over Chinese cities by airplane, which led to the killing of tens of thousands of civilians by bubonic plague.
Currently there is evidence of Israel using white phosphorus (albeit not considered a chemical weapon as it operates primarily by heat and flame rather than toxicity) in Southern Lebanon and in Gaza. White phosphorus leads to lifelong suffering, cruel injuries, and often death. It tends to set homes, animals, and civilians on fire and often burns down the bone and lead to organ failure if it enters the bloodstream. Interestingly, most civilians do not have the equipment to protect themselves against chemical warfare, except Israeli civilians, who have their own gas masks assigned and building contain reinforced shelter. Recently, on the 8th of October 2024, the UK sanctioned Russian troops for deploying chemical weapons on the battlefield.
You can listen to our episode with Brett Edwards here.
