...to establish an effective means of responding to chemical emergencies

Access to evaluated information on how to prevent, respond and treat poisonings from chemical industrial accidents including those that may arise from chemical warfare weapon destruction is now available in a computerized training aid, Chemical Weapon.

Experience throughout the world shows that chemical accidents no matter why they occur, can be just as lethal as the use of chemical warfare weapons. What is more, events of recent years are convincing proof that the threat of chemical weapon usage by terrorists has become ever more urgent. Once an accident occurs, action should be undertaken to mitigate its consequences.

Clearly, both military and civilian medical professionals should be aware of the diagnosis and treatments for the known health effects from exposure to military organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents.

The program proposed is primarily addressed to the physicians exercising medical supervision over the workers directly involved in the handling, storage, transportation and chemical weapon demolition operations.

What information does the CW Program hold?

The CW Program allows to conduct a comprehensive search for available information which ranges from physical and chemical properties of military OP nerve agents through to exact emergency medical treatments specific to exposures to chemical weapon substances and byproducts of their destruction. It also informs physicians of and includes advice on preventive and protective measures and emergency action and, what is more, contains protocols for treatments.

Within the CW Program is a Summary of chemical safety information which includes an assessment of the effects on the environmental and human health of exposure to a chemical or combination of chemicals:

• Physical and chemical properties of military OP nerve agents and ammunition types:
• Toxicological properties of military OP nerve agents;
• Hygienic regulations;
• Environmental monitoring and surveillance schedules;
• Prognosis of ecological zones under threat and identification of potential scope of the environmental injury, including casualties from CWA;
• Concepts of emergency medical treatments.

What can the CW Program do?

Data are organized so that a specific substance can be searched quickly and all documents pertaining to that substance can be identified and retrieved easily.

The substances are presented under two main headings:

• military organophosphorus nerve agents;
• skin blistering agents.

The program is easy to learn; the uese does not need any computer experience to get started.