weapons of mass destruction » International

History of Chemical Warfare

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:46:04 +0000

The use of poisons that could be considered chemical weapons (CW) dates to antiquity. During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), for example, the Spartans used arsenic smoke. A millennium later at the siege of Constantinople (637 AD), the Byzantine Greeks employed “Greek Fire” – a mixture of petroleum, pitch sulfur and resins. The first modern use of CW, however, occurred during the First World War. At the second battle of Ypres in April 1915, the German army released hundreds of tons of chlorine gas. Thousands of Allied troops were killed or wounded in the gas cloud attacks, including nearly 7,000 Canadians (1,000 dead and 5,975 injured). The British war poet Wilfred Owen described the horror of seeing a fellow soldier guttering, choking, drowning, as if under a green sea of chlorine gas. Throughout the war, both the Allied and the Central Powers developed toxic chemical warfare agents and the means to deliver them. They also refined their tactical doctrines to take into account the new reality of chemical warfare. By 1918, the World War I battlefield was saturated with a variety of persistent and non-persistent chemicals, which caused casualties among troops and increased the danger and difficulty of military operations. By the end of the First World War, approximately 125,000 tons of toxic chemicals had been used, causing more than 1.3 million casualties, including more than 100,000 deaths. To this day, live rounds of World War I chemical munitions remain buried beneath the battlefields of Europe. While the consequences of the use of gas during the war – images of wounded and blinded men waiting in long lines to be given medical assistance – created in the general public a visceral loathing of chemical weapons, the development and use of CW continued throughout the twentieth century. Italian troops employed chemical weapons during their invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1936) while Japan used CW during its war with China (1937-1945). During the Second World War, both the Allied countries (including Canada) and Axis powers developed a significant inventory of chemical weapons; the lack of effective large-scale delivery systems played a part in the decision of both sides not to use them (another powerful constraint was the fear of retaliation). Egypt used chemical weapons in North Yemen (1963-1967) and both Iraq and Iran employed CW during the Gulf War (1983-1988). It wasnt until 29 April 1997, after long and difficult negotiations, that the International Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force. By banning these weapons, the Convention heralded the beginning of the work to destroy the stockpiles that had been amassed. April 29 is Remembrance Day to pay tribute to the victims of chemical warfare. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)( http://www.opcw.org/ ) is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW is given the mandate to achieve the object and purpose of the Convention, to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification of compliance with it, and to provide a forum for consultation and cooperation among States Parties. This clip is from the 1950s episode, the Unseen Weapon, from the The Big Picture documentary television program which ran on the American Broadcasting Company from 1953 to 1959. The program consisted of documentary films produced by the United States Army Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service.

Duration : 0:1:6

Technorati Tags: agent, CBRNE, Chemical, chlorine, convention, day, dod, DOE, EPA, hazard, hazwoper, history, hygiene, industrial, International, military, NIOSH, opcw, OSHA, Remembrance, safety, UN, warfare, Weapons, WMD, wwI, Ypres

The Destroy of Chernobyl

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:14:21 +0000

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. It is considered to be the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history and the only level 7 instance on the International Nuclear Event Scale. It resulted in a severe release of radioactivity following a massive power excursion which destroyed the reactor. Two people died in the initial steam explosion, but most deaths from the accident were attributed to radiation.

On 26 April 1986 01:23:45 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, near Pripyat in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Four hundred times more fallout was released than had been by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[2]

The plume drifted over extensive parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America, with light nuclear rain falling as far as Ireland. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. According to official post-Soviet data,[3] about 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus.

The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive. The countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. It is difficult to accurately quantify the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite “radiation” on death certificates.[4]

The 2005 report prepared by the Chernobyl Forum, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO), attributed 56 direct deaths (47 accident workers, and nine children with thyroid cancer), and estimated that there may be 4,000 extra cancer deaths among the approximately 600,000 most highly exposed people.[1] Although the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and certain limited areas remain off limits, the majority of affected areas are now considered safe for settlement and economic activity.

Duration : 0:4:41

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Swine Flu: Update for Virginia & the United States — 5.1.09

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:38:11 +0000

(5.1.09) — Local news coverage from Virginia discussing both the scene in the state and national developments, including the diverting of a plane bound for Germany to Boston because a woman complained of flu-like symptoms during the flight.

Duration : 0:5:35

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Swine Flu Fears Reach Northern California Town of Fair Oaks — 4.27.09

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:16:16 +0000

(4.27.09) — Suspected case of the dangerous swine flu virus in Northern California’s St. Mel School.

The elementary school has been shut down while health officials investigate.

Video courtesy of KCRA NBC 3 in Sacramento, California. Visit them here:
http://www.kcra.com/index.html

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Duration : 0:3:18

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Houston, Texas Swine Flu Death Discussed: First United States of America Fatality — 4.29.09

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:46:02 +0000

(4.29.09) — Doctors talk about the tragic death of a child from the disease.

The child became the first USA fatality from the swine flu outbreak.

Russia destroys more chemical arms

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:18:51 +0000

Russia has taken a key step towards destroying all its chemical weapons, with the opening of another site to neutralise arms. The country is already ahead of its international treaty obligation to destroy all chemical arms by 2012.

Duration : 0:6:31

Technorati Tags: arms, Chemical, destroys, International, obligation, Russia, treaty, Weapons

Daily update 4/26/09 – Deadly Swine Flu Epidemic Hits United States Hard While Barrack Obama Golfs!

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:04:32 +0000

Deadly Swine Flu Epidemic Hits United States Hard While Barrack Obama Golfs!

Check out these links:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517998,00.html

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26489254.htm

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090426/twl-swine-flu-could-become-more-dangerou-3fd0ae9.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090426/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_golf

http://lite.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26491120.htm

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26491115.htm

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Duration : 0:9:46

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First USA Swine Flu Death & Number of States Affected Update — 4.29.09

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:45:13 +0000

(4.29.09) — Update: Maine has also confirmed at least 3 cases of swine flu, making the total states with confirmed cases 11.

Duration : 0:2:0

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WHO Raises Swine Flu Alert Level to 5 out of 6; Pandemic Imminent — 4.29.09

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:50:17 +0000

(4.29.09) — World Health Organization raises threat level of swine flu outbreak.

Duration : 0:1:35

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Swine Flu: EU Health Commissioner Advises Against Travel to USA, Mexico — 4.27.09

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:50:15 +0000

(4.27.09) — Androulla Vassiliou, European Union Health Commissioner, suggests that those in Europe avoid traveling to the United States or Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak.