The Progress And Defence Of Chemical Warfare Agents

This thesis gives a review on the development of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and the defense against them. It aims at providing a good understanding on them and an information serving for the PLA. The thesis is divided into five major sections as follows.Section 1 opens with a review on the development of CWAs since the first world war and the dramatic hazard of CWAs to human beings. In this section the regulations of the Chemical Weapons Conventions (CWC) and the stand of Chinese government on chemical weapons (CWs) are introduced.Section 2 shows the types of CWA, including nerve, blister, blood, lung agents, etc. Manufactures of CWAs, and the mechanisms of toxicity arising from CWAs, such as the inhibition of enzymes and DNA activities, are described in more detail.Section 3 provides a survey of the trend in CWA development and of new concepts relevant to CWAs, toxin warfare agents and binary chemical weapons. Based on an illustration on the mechanism of Ricin A-chain toxicity, a discussion on advantages and disadvantages of the binary CWs are discussed.In section 4 a comparison of various approaches to detect and to protect from CWAs, including chemical, physical and biochemical processes, is given. Limitations of these methods, such as slow response, low sensitivity, lack of specificity, operational complexity, and less flexibility, are discussed.Conclusions are given in the last section: (1) construction and improvement of an information service system of anti-CW is highly in demand; (2) the anti-CWAs ability of the PLA must be highly enhanced; (3) investigations on foreign militaries will be strengthened; and (4) researches on CWs and their strategic threats will be speeded up.