Battlefield use of sulfur mustard decreases the opponent's ability to fight by producing chemical burns on tissues that come into contact with either vapors or liquid droplets and aerosols. It is a cellular poison and mutagen and a recognized human carcinogen.

Sulfur mustard produces skin blisters and damage to the eyes and respiratory tract, and it can be lethal at sufficiently high doses.

The chapter concludes with an outline of some of the conclusions drawn by the committee from analysis of the historical records and calculations of exposure levels. Description of the chemical stockpile disposal program is also included. Thus, this chapter begins to address compelling questions that emerged through the course of this study regarding the appropriate use of the existing scientific and medical literature in WWII testing programs, the lack of medical follow-up of human research subjects, and the probable exposure levels experienced by these subjects.įinally, the chapter overviews the research programs since the end of WWII, including the continuing investigations concerning the mechanisms of toxicity of these agents. As these protocols were investigated, it became apparent to the committee that the full body of knowledge available to the wartime scientists, especially information relevant to the long-term health outcomes of exposure to these agents, was not applied in the conduct of the human experimentation. These estimates were intended to put into context the concentrations of vesicant used in animal and other types of experiments, which the committee was also charged to survey. This committee also investigated as many protocols and supporting military documents as it could obtain for use in estimating the possible exposure levels experienced by the men who participated in the mustard and Lewisite tests. The major focus of this chapter, however, is to describe the research programs and protocols relating to mustard agents and Lewisite, initiated just prior to World War II (WWII) and continued throughout the war. This is followed by a description of the organization of chemical warfare research during World War I (WWI) and the postwar period of 1919 to 1940, including the development of Lewisite and nitrogen mustard. This chapter begins with an introduction that briefly describes sulfur mustard and Lewisite and their effects, accompanied by an overview of their development.

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