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    Bugs And Bombs: A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race
    Bugs And Bombs: A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race
    Bugs And Bombs: A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race
    Ebook145 pages2 hours

    Bugs And Bombs: A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race

    By Lenny Flank

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    About this ebook

    Throughout the course of human history, disease and pestilence have killed far more people than wars ever have. It was only within recent decades, however, that political and military leaders have made the conscious decision to utilize disease and pestilence as weapons of war. This book is a history of the chemical and biological arms race, from its beginnings in China and Greece to the gas warfare of World War One, and from the Cold War to the modern conflicts in Iraq and Syria. It also explores the application of modern genetic engineering to warfare, the equipment necessary to defend against chemical/biological weapons, and international efforts to control and eliminate these weapons of mass destruction.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLenny Flank
    Release dateJun 14, 2014
    ISBN9781310538094
    Bugs And Bombs: A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race
    Author

    Lenny Flank

    Longtime social activist, labor organizer, environmental organizer, antiwar.

    Read more from Lenny Flank

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      Book preview

      Bugs And Bombs - Lenny Flank

      Bugs And Bombs

      A History of the Chemical and Biological Arms Race

      by Lenny Flank

      Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      (c) copyright 2014 by Lenny Flank. All rights reserved.

      Contents

      Introduction

      One: History of CBW

      Two: The Debate Over Binary Nerve Gas

      Three: Bioengineering and CBW

      Four: CBW Proliferation

      Five: CBW Defenses

      Six: CBW Arms Control

      Introduction

      Throughout the course of human history, disease and pestilence have killed far more people than wars ever have. It was only within recent decades, however, that political and military leaders made the conscious decision to utilize disease and pestilence as weapons of war. CBW, or chemical/biological warfare, was an accepted part of battle for much of the 20th century. Today, both chemical and biological weapons have been outlawed by international treaties.

      Broadly defined, the term chemical weapon refers to any toxic substance which can be used to cause harm or death to humans, livestock or crops for military purposes. Military establishments have throughout history produced a wide variety of chemicals with potential wartime uses, from the relatively harmless tear gases to the lethal nerve gases. Lethal chemical weapons were banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

      Each individual compound is referred to as a particular chemical agent. The majority of chemical agents are militarily effective only if they are inhaled into the lungs of the victim, and these usually take the form of a mist or an aerosol. While some chemical agents can be delivered or disseminated as a gaseous vapor, most take the form of liquids which are ejected under pressure to form a fine mist or cloud of droplets. Despite the fact that most chemical agents are actually liquids, it is common practice to refer to all of them as poison gas.

      After dissemination, the liquid agents will settle onto exposed surfaces before eventually evaporating into the atmosphere and dispersing. The length of time over which a chemical weapon remains effective before evaporating is known as the agent’s persistence. Some agents evaporate quickly after dissemination, and have little or no persistence. These weapons are intended to take effect by being inhaled as the gas drifts to the ground.

      Other agents, such as mustard gas or VX nerve gas, have a high persistence and can remain lethal for weeks after they are delivered. These weapons are intended to take affect when unprotected persons touch exposed surfaces and absorb some of the chemical through the skin.

      The first major category of chemical weapons are the herbicides. These are powerful plant poisons which are designed to be used on cultivated areas to destroy enemy food crops. In Vietnam, the United States made extensive use of chemical herbicides to remove jungle foliage and thus deprive the Viet Cong guerrillas of cover. Military herbicides used by the US included Agent White, Agent Blue and Agent Orange.

      The most familiar of the anti-personnel chemical agents are the so-called tear gases, known in military circles as lachrymators. Often used for riot and crowd control, tear gases produce intense burning and itching in the mucous membranes, difficulty in breathing and copious tear flow. Some of the more powerful lachrymators also produce painful skin reactions. Tear gases were heavily used by US troops in Vietnam and also by Soviet troops in Afghanistan. In both instances, the agents were used to force enemy guerrillas from their caves and bunkers and out into the open where they could be attacked.

      The branch of chemical agents which are designed to subdue an enemy without killing or injuring him are known as incapacitating agents, or incaps. These are based on psycho-chemicals and hallucinogens such as LSD or mescaline. When these were used on an enemy, the reasoning went, the opposing troops would fall into a stuporous state of euphoria and could easily be overrun and disarmed.

      Although the Pentagon carried out extensive testing on the incaps, only two agents were ever standardized as weapons and only one, known as Agent BZ, was ever actually deployed in munitions. The unpredictable results of hallucinogen-induced behavior led the Pentagon to phase out the development of incaps, and they were no longer considered for military use. The entire US incap arsenal was destroyed.

      The choking gases are the crudest and least effective of the lethal chemical agents. The two most widely-known choking gases, chlorine and phosgene, have the dubious honor of being the first agents used in widespread chemical warfare. Both sides used these gases extensively during the First World War.

      Chlorine and phosgene kill by attacking the lung tissues and causing the accumulation of fluid and mucus in the lungs. The choking gases must be inhaled to take effect. Because they have strong, easily-recognized odors, these gases are relatively easy to detect and defend against. Due to their relatively low toxicity and their ease of detection, neither chlorine nor phosgene were very effective military weapons.

      The so-called blood gases are powerful poisons which kill quickly by interfering with the ability of the red blood cells to carry oxygen. One of the blood gases, hydrogen cyanide, was the principle component in the Zyklon B used to murder the captives at Auschwitz. Some nations are believed to have stockpiled hydrogen cyanide and other blood gases as wartime agents. France used it briefly during the First World War.

      Another widely-known branch of chemical agents is the blister gases, or vesicants, which include lewisite and mustard. Unlike the choking gases, which must be inhaled to take effect, the vesicants are corrosive liquids which attack any exposed tissues. Although they are not usually fatal, the vesicants produce excruciating chemical burns for which there is no known cure. For decades during World War II and the Cold War, the US maintained a small stockpile of mustard weapons, while the USSR deployed munitions using mustard and a mustard-lewisite mixture.

      The most recent of the lethal chemical agents (and, so far, the most deadly) are the cholinesterase inhibitors, commonly known as nerve gases. Three types of nerve gas were developed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, but Hitler never took advantage of the devastating new weapons.

      After the war, both the US and the USSR studied the new chemicals and adapted them for their own arsenals. The Americans incorporated the German chemical Tabun into their arsenal as Agent GA. The compound Sarin joined the US arsenal as Agent GB, and the liquid Soman was standardized as Agent GD. In the early 1950’s, British researchers discovered two more varieties of nerve gas, known by the code names VE and VX. Throughout the Cold War, the US nerve gas arsenal was made up of Agents GB and VX, while the Soviets relied on Soman and a thickened version of Soman known as VR-55. A handful of other nations are known or suspected of having stockpiled the nerve gases Tabun, Sarin or VX. The Japanese subway attack in 1995 was carried out by a fringe religious cult, the Aum Shinrikyo, using a crude home-made version of Sarin. Iraq used Sarin and Tabun in its war with Iran. Syria was accused of using Sarin in its civil war with US-backed rebels.

      The nerve gases were almost perfect as agents of war. They are colorless, odorless, tasteless and cannot be detected without sophisticated equipment. Lethal doses are absorbed by unprotected people before any tell-tale symptoms appear, and the chemical is effective if it is absorbed through the lungs or through the skin. Nerve gases are also incredibly lethal; just one drop of VX the size of a pinhead, whether inhaled or in contact with the skin, is fatal. Agent VX also has the advantage of being very persistent. It has the consistency of motor oil, and can contaminate a battlefield for several weeks after it is released.

      The theory behind the use of chemical weapons was simple; find the enemy, attack him with a cloud of agents before he is able to don any protective equipment, and allow the area to become decontaminated and safe before moving friendly troops in.

      In practice, however, the utilization of chemical weapons was much more complex. The first challenge to be met is that of finding a method of delivering a suitable amount of chemicals to the intended target. The earliest chemical attacks were carried out with the aid of hundreds of chemical-filled pressure cylinders. The attackers simply waited until the winds were favorable, then opened the canisters to release a cloud of gas. This cloud was carried by winds to the enemy lines.

      This method, however, quickly proved to be unsatisfactory. It was impossible to aim the chemical cloud with any degree of precision, and the reliance on favorable weather conditions made the entire arsenal useless on days when winds were unfavorable or absent. On several occasions, sudden wind shifts carried clouds of gas back towards the original attackers, causing casualties among their own troops.

      In an effort to counter these problems, armies began placing chemical agents inside chambered artillery shells, which exploded at the target to release a cloud of gas in the midst of enemy troops. This system greatly reduced dependency on wind conditions.

      Modern artillery shells, aerial bombs and missiles loaded with CBW payloads were based on these same principles, but weather conditions continued to play a role in chemical tactics. High winds,

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