08-11-2003, 11:19 PM
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#82 (permalink)
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Cracking the Whip
Location: Sexymama's arms...
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Found THIS PAGE while poking around the net to answer the definition of 'chemical' weapons.
Quote:
What is a Chemical Weapon Agent?
A United Nations report from 1969 defines chemical warfare agents as " ... chemical substances, whether gaseous, liquid or solid, which might be employed because of their direct toxic effects on man, animals and plants ... ".
The Chemical Weapons Convention defines chemical weapons as including not only toxic chemicals but also ammunition and equipment for their dispersal. Toxic chemicals are stated to be " ... any chemical which, through its chemical effect on living processes, may cause death, temporary loss of performance, or permanent injury to people and animals". Plants are not mentioned in this context.
Toxins, i.e., poisons produced by living organisms and their synthetic equivalents, are classed as chemical warfare agents if they are used for military purposes. However, they have a special position since they are covered by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention of 1972. This convention bans the development, production and stockpiling of such substances not required for peaceful purposes.
Chemical Agents
MSDS Nerve Agent
GA (Tabun)
GB (Sarin, Zarin)
GD (Soman)
GF (Sarin, Cyclohexyl)
VX (TX60)
Blister Agent
H (HD)
T
Lewisite
HN1
HN2
HN3
Choking Agent
Phosgene (CG)
Chlorine (Cl)
Blood Agent
Hydrogen Cyanide
Cyanogen Chloride
Precursor
Chlorosoman
Chlorosarin
DF
QL
Riot Control
CN (Chloroacetophenone)
CS (o-Chlorobenzylidene
Malononitrile)
"Chemical Weapon Gases" are Seldom Gases
CW agents are frequently called war gases and a war where CW agents are used is usually called a gas war. These incorrect terms are a result of history. During the First World War use was made of chlorine and phosgene which are gases at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. The CW agents used today are only exceptionally gases. Normally they are liquids or solids. However, a certain amount of the substance is always in volatile form (the amount depending on how rapidly the substance evaporates) and the gas concentration may become poisonous.
Both solid substances and liquids can also be dispersed in the air in atomized form, so-called aerosols. An aerosol can penetrate the body through the respiratory organs in the same way as a gas. Some CW agents can also penetrate the skin. This mainly concerns liquids but in some cases also gases and aerosols. Solid substances penetrate the skin slowly unless they happen to be mixed with a suitable solvent.
In the dispersal of CW agents, a mixture of liquid droplets and gas is generated. The largest droplets fall and cause ground contamination whereas the very small droplets remain suspended as an aerosol. Together, the aerosol and the gas form a primary cloud which drifts in the wind. Evaporation of ground contamination causes a secondary cloud which also drifts in the wind.
The ratio between the primary cloud and ground contamination will be different depending on the CW agent dispersed. Addition of thickeners, the dispersal method used, and the height of the dispersal will also influence distribution. A volatile substance will cause, e.g., a large proportion of primary cloud whereas a persistent substance leads to more ground contamination. Explosive dispersal will lead to a greater proportion of primary cloud than if the substance is dispersed by means of spray or discharged in bulk.
Military Chemicals Considered to be Conventional Weapons
Incendiary agents such as napalm and phosphorus are not considered to be CW agents since they achieve their effect mainly through thermal energy. Certain types of smoke screen may be poisonous in extremely high concentrations but, nonetheless, smoke ammunition is not classed as a chemical weapon since the poisonous effect is not the reason for their use. Plants, microorganisms, algae, etc. which produce toxins are not classed as chemical weapons even if the produced toxins belong to that class. Pathogenic microorganisms, mainly viruses and bacteria, are classed as biological weapons.
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This of course is not a comment on the correctness/incorrectness of using Napalm in warfare.
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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis
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