CB050 Military Chemistry, Toxicology and Protection against Highly Toxic Chemicals

Faculty of Science
Spring 2011 - only for the accreditation
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 2 credit(s) (fasci plus compl plus > 4). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. Ing. Jiří Matoušek, DrSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Ivan Holoubek, CSc.
RECETOX – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: prof. RNDr. Jakub Hofman, Ph.D.
Prerequisites
Special toxicology CB040
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- interpret basic concepts of military chemistry, toxicology, and protection
- characterise principles of chemical weaponry, types of source, dispersal and plume proliferation
- discuss impact of environmental conditions on the contaminant´s behaviour
- define main physical, chemical and toxicological properties of chemical warfare agents (CWA)
- recognise properties of representatives of the main CWA groups, i.e. irritants, incapacitants, lung injurants, blood agents, vesicants, nerve agents and toxins
- define means of physical protection (individual, collective) of troops and civilians
- define methods and means of detection and analysis of CWA and other toxicants
- define methods and means of decontaminating personnel, technology and materiel
- conclude methods of first aid including symptomatic and causal antidotes
- characterise principles of population protection and of integrated rescue system
- conclude principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention and status of its implementation
Syllabus
  • *** Introduction. Military chemistry and toxicology - wide and narrow concept. Development and use of chemical weapons (CW) in the historical context. Efforts to outlaw CW. Current problems of wartime and terrorist using CW and toxic compounds, protection of troops and of population.
  • *** Basic physical, chemical and toxic properties of chemical warfare agents (CWA). Physical properties – vapour tension, b. p., m. p., vapour density, volatility, solubility, persistency etc. Chemical properties – resistance to hydrolysis, chemicals, materials, thermal stability. Toxic properties – dose (concentration) vs. response relationship, routes of intoxication, threshold (effective, intolerable, lethal) dose (concentration), exposition, toxicity product. Classification of CWA – according to: principles of use, targets, kind of prevailing effect, time of effect, persistence, chemical principles.
  • *** Principles of chemical armaments and use of CW. Basic types of chemical armaments and moods of their use – artillery and missile munitions, aerial bombs and spray tanks, binary technology, land mines, smoke and aerosol generators, other means. Behaviour of toxic agents - impact of aggregate state and mood of use. Influence of meteorological and topographic conditions on the use and effectiveness – state of the lowest atmospheric layer (wind direction and velocity, air and soil temperature, humidity and vertical stability), precipitation, influence of terrain relief and cover on the atmospheric parameters. Proliferation of primary and secondary plume - impact of mood of use, meteorological and topographic conditions.
  • *** Irritants (harassing agents) and incapacitants. Lachrymators – various types of halogen derivatives with lachrymatory effects (ethylbromo acetate, xylylbromide, bromobenzylcyanide and like), chloroacetophenon (CN).Sensory irritants with broader spectrum of effects – 2-chlorobenzalmalonodinitrile (CS), dibenzo(b,f)-1,4-oxazepin (CR). Sternutators – phenyldichloroarsine (PD), diphenylchloroarsine (DA), diphenylcyanoarsine (DC), adamsite (DM). Incapacitants – Psychically incapacitating agents (3-quinuclidylbenzilate – QB, BZ), Physically incapacitating agents (Staphylococcal enterotoxin B and like).
  • *** Generally toxic agents. Hydrogen cyanide (AC), cyanogen chloride (CK)
  • *** Lung injurants (asphyxiating agents, suffocants, chocking agents).Chlorine (CL), phosgene (CG), diphosgene (DP), chloropicrin (PS).
  • *** Vesicants (blister agents). Methyldichloroarsine (MD), ethyldichloroarsine (ED), lewisites (L), S-mustard (H,HD) and homologues (Q, HT), N-mustards (HN-1,2,3).
  • *** Nerve agents. Development in the context with pesticides. Phosphoric acid derivatives – Diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP), tabun (GA). Phosphonic acid derivatives – sarin (GB), soman (GD), cyclosarin (GF). Thiolphosphonic acid derivatives – VX, V-gaz. Binary systems – GB-2, VX-2. Components (precursors) of binary systems – DP, QL.
  • *** Toxins. Toxins with potential use – neurotoxins, enterotoxins, cytotoxic and cytolytic toxins, animal toxins and venoms, plant toxins, mycotoxins.
  • *** Some new directions in the development of potential CWA. New supertoxic lethal agents, incapacitants, calmatives, trends of development within border area between chemical and biological agents, bioregulators. Other agents (according to actualised information).
  • *** Methods and means of personal and collective protection. Basic technical principles and methods of testing materials for protective means – filtration, sorption, penetration. Basic construction principles and methods of testing protective means – physiology of respiration, harmful space, field of vision, ergonomics, transfer of thermal energy. Czech military protective masks – M-10, M-10M, OM-90. Czech civilian protective masks for adult population – CM-3, CM-4, CM-5, CM-5M (CM-5K, CM-5D, CM-5DM), CM-6. Czech children protective masks – DM-1, CM-3h, DM-5. Czech children protective jackets – DK-62, DK-88. Czech children protective bags – DV-65, DV-75. Filter-canisters for protective masks and means against military and industrial chemicals. Czech military and civil protection isolating protective suits – OPCH-75, SOO-CO. Czech military single-use protective suits – JP-75A, JP-90. Improvised means for body protection. Czech military air-permeable suits and variants – FOP-85 (POO), POO-A, FOP-90, FOP-95. Czech military and civil protection filter-ventilated suits – OPCH-90, OPCH-90CO. Czech heavy-duty protective suit – OPCH-90PO. Further development trends of personal protection.Collective protection. Temporary shelters, permanent (single- and dual-use) shelters. Construction and protective elements, filter-ventilation equipment, testing of shelters, improvised shelters.
  • *** Methods and means of detection, monitoring, alerting and field analysis. Basic means of chemical reconnaissance and detection – RAID, CHP-71 and detection tubes, detection papers and stripes.Automatic alarms – GSP-11, GO-27, GSA-12.Stand-off detection equipment – lidar.Portable laboratories – PCHL-54, PCHL-90, Mobile laboratories – ACHL-1, AL-1. Stationary laboratories of Civil Protection, accredited laboratories of the OPCW.
  • *** Methods and means of decontamination of personnel, equipment, materiel and objects. Basic principles of decontamination and their use for objects and materials – mechanical (removal of upper layer, cover over surface), physical (washing-up, sorption, evaporation), chemical (basic chemical reaction suitable for decontamination, decontamination chemicals and mixtures, decontamination solutions and emulsions, health risks). Decontamination of personnel – Primary decontamination in armed forces (IPB-80) and civil protection (ZPJ-80). Secondary decontamination of wounded military personnel (PCHB, PCHP), secondary decontamination of unwounded military personnel (SDO), secondary decontamination in civilian facilities.Decontamination of personal arms and utensils – UOS-1. Decontamination of cars and medium equipment items – AOS-1, AOS-2, OS-3. Technologies for mass decontamination of mobile technology, materiel, constructions, terrain – ARS-12M, TZ-74, LINKA-82, ST-T815, ARS-90. Decontamination of clothing and of protective means – PDP-1,2, PMP. Decontamination and water cleaning in field – AUV-62, UV-2000 and like. Decontamination and water cleaning in stationary facilities.
  • ***Methods and means of first aid, first and qualified medical aid. Basic principles of first aid and medical evacuation system in armed forces and civil population under mass casualties. Military first aid means. First aid kit for civil protection – ZPJ-80. First aid antidote means for intoxications with nerve agents – Autoinjectors Astra, GAI, AtroPen, ComboPen and like. Antidotes for preventive use (Panpal) and for qualified medical aid (Fosan, Chonol, Renol).
  • *** Fundamentals of protecting population and Czech Integrated Rescue System. Basic legislative and operative data on current organisation of protecting population and of the Integrated Rescue System in the Czech Republic, and on its elements. Basic tasks and measures in protecting population under war events and peaceful accidents (prevention, warning, individual protection, evacuation, collective protection, rescue and recovery measures), personal and material means.
  • *** Chemical disarmament in the context of WMD arms control and disarmament. Basic events in the effort to outlaw chemical weapons – St Petersburg Declaration (1868), Declaration of Brussels (1874), Conventions and Declarations from The Hague (1899, 1907), WW-I Peace Treaties of Versailles (Sévres, Trianon, St Germain, Berlin), Geneva Protocol on Prohibition of Use in War of Asphyxiating and other Toxic Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (1925) and its recent applications in the UNO system. Agreement of Potsdam (1945). Treaty of Brussels (1954). Basic multilateral and bilateral (USA – USSR, Russia respectively) agreements on arms control, mainly Nuclear Arms Non-proliferation Treaty (1968), Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons and on their Destruction (1972), and ongoing negotiations on strengthening its regime.
  • ***Convention on general and comprehensive ban of CW and its implementation. Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and of their Destruction (1993) – the best elaborated and most sophisticated disarmament document. Detailed elucidation of its contents and commitments. Status and perspectives of its implementation.
  • *** Health and environmental aspects of the technologies for CW demilitarisation. Experience with former methods of chemical weapons disposal (mainly after WW-II), used till the 1970s (open-pit burning, earth burial, sea-dumping) and environmental consequences at known localities. Analysis of declared chemical weapons stockpiles at known possessors, including old and abandoned chemical weapons and their environmental impact. Developed and operational technologies for chemical weapons destruction/disposal and their technological, health and environmental aspects.
Literature
  • MATOUŠEK J.: Chemical Weapons / Chemical Warfare Agents. SÚJB, Prague – SÚJCHBO, Příbram – SPBI , Ostrava 2008.
  • MATOUŠEK J.: Health and environmental zhreats associated with the destruction of chemical weapons. In: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1076, 2006, pp 549 – 558.
  • MATOUŠEK J., BENEDÍK J., LINHART P.: CBRN: Biological Weapons (in Czech). SPBI, Ostrava 2007
  • MATOUŠEK J., LINHART P. : CBRN: Chemical Weapons (in Czech). SPBI, Ostrava 2005
  • Organisation for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW): Actual materials on chemical weapons and chemical disarmament: http//: www.opcw.org.
  • UNO: Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. UNO, New York 1993.
  • MATOUŠEK J., MIKA O., VIČAR D.: New Threats of Terrorism: CBRN Terrorism (on Czech), University of Defence, Brno 2005.
  • MATOUŠEK J., URBAN I., LINHART P.: CBRN: Detection and Monitoring, Physical Protection, Decontamination (in Czech). SPBI Ostrava 2009.
  • PITCHMAN V.: History of Chemical Warfare (in Czech). MS Line, Prague 1999.
  • MATOUŠEK, Jiří. The dangerous heredity of former chemical arsenals: Sea-dumped and earth-buried chemical weapons and toxic armament waste in the Baltic Region. INES Newsletter. 2004, vol. 46, No 1, p. 9-14. info
  • PATOČKA, Jiří. Vojenská toxikologie. 1. vyd. Praha: Grada, 2004, 178 s. ISBN 8024706083. info
Teaching methods
Interactive lectures supported with audiovisual means (mainly over-head projection) and practical demonstration of authentic means and materials for detection, personal protection, first aid and decontamination. Students are frequently asked to express their views on tabled problems in order to develop their critical thinking. They are also stimulated to discuss and pose questions on the lecture´s topic. Main stress is laid on the link of chemical and toxicological properties and mechanisms to the principles of detection, physical and medical protection and elimination of consequences of both peacetime extraordinary events with releases of toxic chemicals, and use of chemical weapons in armed conflicts, and terrorist strikes as well as interlink between chemical disarmament and chemical safety.
Assessment methods
Attending lectures is not obligatory (pursuant to the Study Order) but strongly recommended justified with the effect of the above mentioned teaching methods for implementing course objectives taking into consideration quite extraordinary opportunity to be familiar with unique study matter that is not subject of civilian universities curricula practically worldwide. During the lectures, the understanding of topic from previous lectures is verified. Final assessment proceeds as individual oral exam with 4 extensive questions (from all 4 thematic areas) that need comprehensive structured answer, and a couple of smaller detailed additional questions to verify depth of knowledge and skill required according to the course objectives, mainly ability of application in solving technical and health problems of prevention, protection, rescue, recovery and elimination of consequences of model situations at extraordinary events with releases of highly toxic chemicals, including use of chemical weapons in armed conflicts, and of chemical terrorism.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008 - for the purpose of the accreditation, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011.