2. Gulf War Syndrome

3. Chemical weapons in history

4. The nerve of this gas

5. Agent Orange revisited

6. Dioxin on trial

7. Most poisonous substance?

Update: Gulf War Syndrome

Nerves -- the "perfect" target
Soon after the first organophosphate (defined) compound was invented at the German firm IG Farben in 1934, many recognized that it could be used as a pesticide -- or a chemical weapon.

Organophosphates kill insects and people by jamming the nervous system.

By the end of the 1930s, German chemists had produced about 2,000 organophosphates, including sarin. Military planners assumed these weapons would be used: by the brink of World War II, Britain had stockpiled 30 million gas masks.

Chemical weapons were not used in the war, but "progress" continued. After the war, U.S. scientists invented the so-called V-agents, which were more stable and 10 times as deadly as organophosphates.

How nerve agents work

Nerve agents interfere with the signaling system used by the nervous system. Many organophosphates inhibit acetylcholinesterase, an essential chemical that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which carries nerve signals across gaps between nerve cells.

Source: A FOA Briefing Book on Chemical Weapons: Nerve Agents.

When no acetylcholinesterase (fortunately, you don't have to pronounce it to understand it) is around to break down acetylcholine, acetylcholine builds up and jams nerves in the "on" position so they constantly signal muscles to contract.

That causes the typical effects of nerve gas: violent tremors, incontinence, even heart and lung failure. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons:

 

"Exposure to a higher dose [of nerve weapons] leads to ... bronchioconstriction and secretion of mucous in the respiratory system leads to difficulty in breathing and to coughing. Discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract may develop into cramp and vomiting. Involuntary discharge of urine and defecation may also form part of the picture. The discharge of saliva is powerful and the victim may experience running eyes and sweating.

"When exposed to a high dose of nerve agent, the ... victim may suffer convulsions and lose consciousness. To some extent, the poisoning process may be so rapid that earlier mentioned symptoms may never have time to develop.

"Muscular paralysis caused by nerve agents also affects the respiratory muscles. Nerve agents also affect the respiratory center of the central nervous system. ...Consequently, death caused by nerve agents is a kind of death by suffocation."

For an overview of chemical weapons, see "Banning Chemical Weapons" in the bibliography. Don't expect objectivity: the author, like most who dwell on the issue, thinks chemical warfare stinks.

Did dioxin sicken people during the Vietnam war?