What Do You Know About Mustard Gas?

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THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS is getting ready to dig up the yards of two American University-owned homes on Glenbook Road in Spring Valley, the site of a World War I-era chemical munitions testing ground.

The Army says that while air samples taken at the sites indicate the presence of two mustard gas breakdown products, they aren't at levels that are believed to be dangerous. The Current's Charles Bermpohl — who has been following the saga of the neighborhood munitions cleanup for years — details the toxic history of the properties in question in this week's issue. (Sadly, the Current isn't online, pick up a copy around town.)

In 1995 and 1996, construction workers and landscapers digging at 4825 Glenbrook Road and 4835 Glenbrook Road — which is the official residence for the American University president, currently unoccupied — suffered injuries including temporary blindness and severe eye and skin pain from escaping fumes, according to Bermpohl.

Long-term cleanup in the tony neighborhood continues, and the Army says it isn't sure what new digging might turn up. Overall, though, authorities have stressed that remains from the munitions tested there do not pose any immediate threat to the neighborhood. That likely doesn't keep residents from worrying, though.

So what do you know about mustard gas, which in part inspired Wilfred Owen's haunting World War I poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" ?

» DANGERS: From the Council on Foreign Relations:

Mustard gas is a blister agent, less likely to kill large numbers of people than nerve agents like sarin and VX. Mustard gas is far less deadly than nerve gas, limiting its appeal as a weapon. But depending on the level of exposure, mustard gas can also leave victims with more lasting injuries.

People may not know right away that they have been exposed, because sulfur mustard often has no smell or has a smell that might not cause alarm. ... Typically, signs and symptoms do not occur immediately. Depending on the severity of the exposure, symptoms may not occur for 2 to 24 hours. Some people are more sensitive to sulfur mustard than are other people, and may have symptoms sooner.

Remove clothes and place contaminated clothes and personal belongings in a sealed double bag. Decontamination of mustard-exposed victims by either vapor or liquid should be performed within the first two minutes following the exposure to prevent tissue damage. If not accomplished within the first several minutes, decontamination should still be performed to ensure any residual liquid mustard is removed from the skin or clothes or to ensure any trapped mustard vapor is removed with the clothing. Removing trapped mustard vapor will prevent vapor off-gassing or subsequent cross-contamination of other emergency responders/health care providers or the healthcare facility. Physical removal of the mustard agent, rather than detoxification or neutralization, is the most important principle in patient decontamination. Mustard is not detoxified by water alone and will remain in decontamination effluent (in dilute concentrations) if hydrolysis has not taken place.

Mustard gas has always been seen as a particularly nasty poison, resulting in a painful and often slow death, and, ironically, whilst it causes cancer, it has also been used to help cure it. It was in 1919, not long after the first usage of mustard gas, that it was noted that victims had a low blood cell count, because the mustard gas attacked white blood cells, and bone marrow aplasia (breakdown).

» "Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est'" [British Library]
» "Mustard Gas" [Council on Foreign Relations]
» "Facts About Sulphur Mustard" [CDC]
» "Mustard Gas Emergency Response Card" [CDC]
» "Molecule of the Month: Mustard Gas" [Bristol University]

Australian War Memorial photo