ChemBioWar: Chemicals, warfare and biobased protective systems

June 3, 2013 |

chemwarAs chemical warfare spreads anew, questions rise as to how to eliminate toxins on the battlefield.

A biobased technology has the answers for warfighters and their gear.

In the universe of the Really Awful, one comeback we could have lived without is being mounted by the weapons of chemical warfare.

In the most recent news, fighters with the opposition Al Nusra Front were captured several days ago with cylinders of Sarin suitable for battlefield deployment, and the BBC has seen “video and eyewitness testimony that appears to corroborate allegations of chemical weapons’ usage in the Syrian town of Saraqeb.” This, after reported outbreaks in Somalia back in the mid-2000s , and the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988’s Halabja poison gas attack.

Proliferation and the problem of equipment

They’re proliferating. India, Albania, Libya, Russia, the United States, Sudan, Israel, North Korea and South Korea are countries that have been identified with stockpiles of chemical weapons — and you don’t have to look much farther than than the Korean peninsula for bad news in a genuine hotspot, as North Korea is reported to stockpile “2500-5000 tons of CW, mainly mustard gas, phosgene, Sarin, and VX agents”.

As if nerve agents like Sarin and VX were not bad enough for personnel, there’s the problem of equipment.

It’s not an abstract problem. Soldiers went into the active battlefield area in Iraq with 60 pounds of gear — each. Gear they need. Gear that, riddled with nerve agents, poses a hazard to human life not just to the war fighter, but to the first responder, and the dude at the motor pool. Maybe you can fight in a rubber suit, but you can’t live in one.

After a VX attack, without your protective gear, you can’t ride in the Humvee, access your telephony or laptop, grab a razor, brush teeth, handle rations, drink from your canteen, touch clothing, adjust goggles, load your rifle or hop into a tank.

For more – a review of global preparations for ChemBioWar – a new solution for cleansing from Reactive Solutions, and its commercial progress – and the long-term implications for biobased materials and feedstocks – follow our coverage via the page links below.

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