Blood agent

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A blood agent is a toxic chemical agent that affects the body by being absorbed into the blood. [1] Blood agents are fast-acting, potentially lethal poisons that typically manifest at room temperature as volatile colorless gases with a faint odor. [1] They are either cyanide- or arsenic-based. [1]

Contents

Exposure

Blood agents work through inhalation or ingestion. [2] As chemical weapons, blood agents are typically disseminated as aerosols and take effect through inhalation. Due to their volatility, they are more toxic in confined areas than in open areas. [1]

Cyanide compounds occur in small amounts in the natural environment and in cigarette smoke. They are also used in several industrial processes and as pesticides. Cyanides are released when synthetic fabrics or polyurethane burn, and may thus contribute to fire-related deaths. [2] Arsine gas, formed when arsenic encounters an acid, is used as a pesticide and in the semiconductor industry; most exposures to it occur accidentally in the workplace. [2]

Symptoms

The symptoms of blood agent poisoning depend on concentration and duration.

Cyanide-based blood agents irritate the eyes and the respiratory tract, while arsine is nonirritating. [2] Hydrogen cyanide has a faint, bitter, almond odor that only about half of all people can smell. Arsine has a very faint garlic odor detectable only at greater than fatal concentrations. [1]

Exposure to small amounts of cyanide has no effect. [2] Higher concentrations cause dizziness, weakness and nausea, which cease with the exposure, but long-time exposure can cause mild symptoms followed by permanent brain damage and muscle paralysis. [2] Moderate exposure causes stronger and longer-lasting symptoms, including headache, that can be followed by convulsions and coma. Stronger or longer exposure will also lead to convulsions and coma. Very strong exposure causes severe toxic effects within seconds, and rapid death. [2]

The blood of people killed by blood agents is bright red, because the agents inhibit the use of the oxygen in it by the body's cells. [2] Cyanide poisoning can be detected by the presence of thiocyanate or cyanide in the blood, a smell of bitter almonds, or respiratory tract inflammations and congestions in the case of cyanogen chloride poisoning. [2] There is no specific test for arsine poisoning, but it may leave a garlic smell on the victim's breath. [2]

Effects

At sufficient concentrations, blood agents can quickly saturate the blood and cause death in a matter of minutes or seconds. [2] They cause powerful gasping for breath, violent convulsions and a painful death that can take several minutes. [2] The immediate cause of death is usually respiratory failure. [2]

Blood agents work at the cellular level by preventing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the blood and the body's cells. This causes the cells to suffocate from lack of oxygen. [2] Cyanide-based agents do so by interrupting the electron transport chain in the inner membranes of mitochondria. Arsine damages the red blood cells which deliver oxygen throughout the body. [2]

Detection and countermeasures

Chemical detection methods, in the form of kits or testing strips, exist for hydrogen cyanide. Ordinary clothing provides some protection, but proper protective clothing and masks are recommended. Mask filters containing only charcoal are ineffective, and effective filters are quickly saturated. [3]

Due to their high volatility, cyanide agents generally need no decontamination. In enclosed areas, fire extinguishers spraying sodium carbonate can decontaminate hydrogen cyanide, but the resulting metal salts remain poisonous on contact. [3] Liquid hydrogen cyanide can be flushed with water. [4]

Cyanide poisoning can be treated with antidotes.

List of blood agents

The information in the following table, which lists blood agents of military significance, [3] is taken from Ledgard. [5] The values given are on a scale from 1 to 10.

AgentDescriptionMelting / boiling pointEffectiveness as blood agentPersistence, open areaPersistence, enclosed areaField stabilityStorage stabilityToxicity as blood agent
Hydrogen cyanide Colorless gas or liquid, almond odor, burns with a bluish flame.−13 / 26 °C102910810
Cyanogen Colorless gas, almond odor, burns with a pinkish flame having a blue border.−28 / −21 °C929879
Cyanogen chloride Colorless gas or liquid, pungent and biting odor, soluble in water and alcohol.−6 / 14 °C839998
Cyanogen bromide Colorless needle-shaped or cubic crystals, tending to volatize on standing, hence of limited usefulness as a weapon.52 / 62 °C958568
Arsine Colorless gas, garlic-like odor, slightly soluble in water.−117 / −62 °C938599
Vinyl arsine Colorless liquid, irritating and bitter odor, slightly soluble in water, also acts as a blister agent.124 °C (boiling)779896
Phosgene Colorless gas and slightly yellow liquid, moldy hay odor, slightly soluble in water and soluble in most solvents, also acts as a choking agent.−118 / 81069586

Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide, colorless crystalline compounds similar in appearance to sugar, also act as blood agents. [2] Carbon monoxide could technically be called a blood agent because it binds with oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in the blood (see carbon monoxide poisoning), but its high volatility makes it impractical as a chemical warfare agent. [6]

One of the earliest proposed chemical weapons, cacodyl oxide, or Cadet's fuming liquid, also displays properties of a blood agent (as well as those of a malodorant). It was proposed as a chemical weapon in the British Empire during the Crimean War, along with the significantly more potent blood agent, cacodyl cyanide. [7]

Use

The most significant practical application of blood agents was the use of hydrogen cyanide (Zyklon B) in gas chambers by Nazi Germany to commit the mass murder of Jews and others in the course of the Holocaust. [8] This resulted in the largest death toll as a result of the use of chemical agents to date. [9]

Related Research Articles

Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula HCN. It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at 25.6 °C (78.1 °F). HCN is produced on an industrial scale and is a highly valued precursor to many chemical compounds ranging from polymers to pharmaceuticals. Large-scale applications are for the production of potassium cyanide and adiponitrile, used in mining and plastics, respectively.

Poison Substance that causes death, injury or harm to organs

In biology, poisons are substances that can cause death, injury or harm to organs, tissues, cells, and DNA usually by chemical reactions or other activity on the molecular scale, when an organism is exposed to a sufficient quantity.

Tabun (nerve agent) Chemical compound

Tabun or GA is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a clear, colorless, and tasteless liquid with a faint fruity odor. It is classified as a nerve agent because it fatally interferes with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system. Its production is strictly controlled and stockpiling outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. Tabun is the first of the G-series nerve agents along with GB (sarin), GD (soman) and GF (cyclosarin).

Soman Chemical compound (nerve agent)

Soman is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a nerve agent, interfering with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system by inhibiting the enzyme cholinesterase. It is an inhibitor of both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. As a chemical weapon, it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations according to UN Resolution 687. Its production is strictly controlled, and stockpiling is outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance. Soman was the third of the so-called G-series nerve agents to be discovered along with GA (tabun), GB (sarin), and GF (cyclosarin).

Hydrogen sulfide Poisonous, corrosive and flammable gas

Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula H
2S. It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The underground mine gas term for foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide-rich gas mixtures is stinkdamp, which is a cognate of the Dutch words for “stinking” and “vapor”. Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele is credited with having discovered the chemical composition of purified hydrogen sulfide in 1777. The British English spelling of this compound is hydrogen sulphide, a spelling no longer recommended by the Royal Society of Chemistry or the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Lewisite Chemical compound

Lewisite (L) is an organoarsenic compound. It was once manufactured in the U.S., Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union for use as a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant and lung irritant. Although the substance is colorless and odorless in its pure form, impure samples of lewisite are a yellow, brown, violet-black, green, or amber oily liquid with a distinctive odor that has been described as similar to geraniums.

Arsine Chemical compound

Arsine (IUPAC name: arsane) is an inorganic compound with the formula AsH3. This flammable, pyrophoric, and highly toxic pnictogen hydride gas is one of the simplest compounds of arsenic. Despite its lethality, it finds some applications in the semiconductor industry and for the synthesis of organoarsenic compounds. The term arsine is commonly used to describe a class of organoarsenic compounds of the formula AsH3−xRx, where R = aryl or alkyl. For example, As(C6H5)3, called triphenylarsine, is referred to as "an arsine".

Potassium cyanide Chemical compound

Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewellery for chemical gilding and buffing.

Hyperoxia occurs when cells, tissues and organs are exposed to an excess supply of oxygen (O2) or higher than normal partial pressure of oxygen.

Abrin Chemical compound

Abrin is an extremely toxic toxalbumin found in the seeds of the rosary pea, Abrus precatorius. It has a median lethal dose of 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of body mass when given to mice intravenously. The median toxic dose for humans ranges from 10 to 1000 micrograms per kilogram when ingested and is 3.3 micrograms per kilogram when inhaled.

HN1 (nitrogen mustard) Chemical compound

Bis(2-chloroethyl)ethylamine is the organic compound with the formula C2H5N(CH2CH2Cl)2. Often abbreviated HN1, it is a powerful vesicant and a nitrogen mustard gas used for chemical warfare. HN1 was developed in the 1920s and 1930s to remove warts and later as a military agent. Because of the latter use, it is a Schedule 1 chemical within the Chemical Weapons Convention and therefore use and production is strongly restricted. It has never been used in warfare.

Cyanide poisoning Broad-spectrum poisoning by inhibition of cellular aerobic respiration metabolism in mitochondria

Cyanide poisoning is poisoning that results from exposure to any of a number of forms of cyanide. Early symptoms include headache, dizziness, fast heart rate, shortness of breath, and vomiting. This phase may then be followed by seizures, slow heart rate, low blood pressure, loss of consciousness, and cardiac arrest. Onset of symptoms usually occurs within a few minutes. Some survivors have long-term neurological problems.

Methyldichloroarsine Chemical compound

Methyldichloroarsine, sometimes abbreviated "MD" and also known as methyl Dick, is an organoarsenic compound with the formula CH3AsCl2. This colourless volatile liquid is a highly toxic vesicant that has been used in chemical warfare.

Manure management

Manure management refers to capture, storage, treatment, and utilization of animal manures in an environmentally sustainable manner. It can be retained in various holding facilities. Animal manure can occur in a liquid, slurry, or solid form. It is utilized by distribution on fields in amounts that enrich soils without causing water pollution or unacceptably high levels of nutrient enrichment. Manure management is a component of nutrient management.

Methacrylonitrile, MeAN in short, is a chemical compound that is an unsaturated aliphatic nitrile, widely used in the preparation of homopolymers, copolymers, elastomers, and plastics and as a chemical intermediate in the preparation of acids, amides, amines, esters, and other nitriles. MeAN is also used as a replacement for acrylonitrile in the manufacture of an acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene-like polymer. It is a clear and colorless liquid, that has a bitter almond smell.

Acute inhalation injury may result from frequent and widespread use of household cleaning agents and industrial gases. The airways and lungs receive continuous first-pass exposure to non-toxic and irritant or toxic gases via inhalation. Irritant gases are those that, on inhalation, dissolve in the water of the respiratory tract mucosa and provoke an inflammatory response, usually from the release of acidic or alkaline radicals. Smoke, chlorine, phosgene, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and ammonia are common irritants.

Lewisite 2 Chemical compound

Lewisite 2(L-2) is an organoarsenic chemical weapon like lewisite 1 and lewisite 3 first synthesized in 1904 by Julius Arthur Nieuwland. It is usually found as a mixture of 2-chlorovinylarsonous dichloride as well as bis(2-chloroethenyl) arsinous chloride and tris(2-chlorovinyl)arsine. Pure lewisite 1 is an oily, colorless liquid, however, the impure mixture can appear amber to black with an odor distinct to geraniums.

Lewisite 3 Chemical compound

Lewisite 3(L-3) is an organoarsenic chemical weapon like lewisite 1 and lewisite 2 first synthesized in 1904 by Julius Arthur Nieuwland. It is usually found as a mixture of 2-chlorovinylarsonous dichloride as well as bis(2-chloroethenyl) arsinous chloride and tris(2-chlorovinyl)arsine. Pure lewisite 1 is an oily, colorless liquid, however, the impure mixture can appear amber to black with an odor distinct to geraniums.

Cacodyl cyanide Chemical compound

Cacodyl cyanide is an organoarsenic compound discovered by Robert Bunsen in the 1840s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Walsh, C. J. (2008). "Blood agents". In Ayn Embar-seddon; Allan D. Pass (eds.). Forensic Science. Salem Press. p. 150. ISBN   978-1-58765-423-7.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Walsh, 151.
  3. 1 2 3 Ledgard, 72.
  4. ↑ Ledgard, 73.
  5. ↑ Ledgard, Jared (2006). A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents. Lulu. pp. 79 et seq. ISBN   978-1-4116-9432-3.
  6. ↑ Croddy, Eric (2002). Chemical and biological warfare: a comprehensive survey for the concerned citizen. Springer. p. 108. ISBN   978-0-387-95076-1.
  7. ↑ Romano, James A. (2007). Chemical Warfare Agents: Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics. CRC Press. p. 4. ISBN   9781420046625.
  8. ↑ Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-280436-5.
  9. ↑ Hayes, Peter (2004). From Cooperation to Complicity: Degussa in the Third Reich, pp. 2, 272. ISBN   0-521-78227-9
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