[Consequences learned from the use of chemical weapons during the First World War for the modern military medicine].

The article describes the way medical service dealed with problems resulted from the use of chemical weapons during the First World War (1914-1918). It was revealed that many of the abovementioned problems remain unsolved up to the present moment. It is stated the existence of the threat of use of chemical weapons in modem military conflicts, which expands the area of responsibility for medical chemical protection. The authors proved necessity and algorithm of the training system, considered as a part of medical protection in case of adverse factors of chemical nature.

Acetylcholinesterase: The "Hub" for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Chemical Weapons Convention.

This article describes acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme involved in parasympathetic neurotransmission, its activity, and how its inhibition can be pharmacologically useful for treating dementia, caused by Alzheimer's disease, or as a warfare method due to the action of nerve agents. The chemical concepts related to the irreversible inhibition of AChE, its reactivation, and aging are discussed, along with a relationship to the current international legislation on chemical weapons.

Toxic Epidemics: Agent Orange Sickness in Vietnam and the United States.

Social scientists studying toxic epidemics have often endeavored to shed light on the differences between scientists' and nonscientists' epistemic perspectives. Yet, little attention has been paid to the processes through which a toxic epidemic emerges as a phenomenon. A Luoi Valley of Central Vietnam was extensively sprayed with chemical defoliants (including Agent Orange) during the Vietnam War. The latent toxic effects of these chemicals, however, went largely unnoticed until the late 1990s. By juxtaposing the history through which the notion of "Agent Orange Sickness" emerged in the United States with an ethnographic study of A Luoi, I explore the notion of poison under which Agent Orange became recognizable as a poison.

Legal aspects and international assistance related to the deliberate use of chemicals to cause harm.

National and international law is an essential component of the array of measures serving to protect against the hostile release of biological or chemical agents, and to help to mitigate the consequences should such a release nevertheless take place. These includes the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, for which the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been established in 1997. In addition to the OPCW, the international community has made preparations through the United Nations (e.g. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Health Organization) for assistance to governments against which biological and chemical weapons might be used. This paper provides an overview of the international mechanisms for assistance and is based on the Second Edition of the Public Health Response to Biological and Chemical Weapons: WHO Guidance (). Toxicologists throughout the world should know these regulations and act accordingly.

History of chemical and biological warfare agents.

Chemical and biological warfare agents constitute a low-probability, but high-impact risk both to the military and to the civilian population. The use of hazardous materials of chemical or biological origin as weapons and for homicide has been documented since ancient times. The first use of chemicals in terms of weapons of mass destruction goes back to World War I, when on April 22, 1915 large amounts of chlorine were released by German military forces at Ypres, Belgium. Until around the 1970s of the 20th century, the awareness of the threat by chemical and biological agents had been mainly confined to the military sector. In the following time, the development of increasing range delivery systems by chemical and biological agents possessors sensitised public attention to the threat emanating from these agents. Their proliferation to the terrorists field during the 1990s with the expanding scale and globalisation of terrorist attacks suggested that these agents are becoming an increasing threat to the whole world community. The following article gives a condensed overview on the history of use and development of the more prominent chemical and biological warfare agents.

Chemical weapons: documented use and compounds on the horizon.

Man's inhumanity to man is expressed through a plethora of tools of modern warfare and terror. The use of chemical and biological weapons with the goals of assault, demoralisation and lethality has been documented in recent history, both on the battlefield and in urban terror against civilians. A general review of a few of the currently employed chemical weapons and biological toxins, along with a look at potential chemical weapons and tools of counter-terrorism, follows. While these weapons are fearsome elements, the dangers should be viewed in the context of the widespread availability and efficacy of conventional weapons.

[Toxins from the aspect of international control programs]. / Toxiny z pohledu mezinárodních kontrolních rezimu.

Toxins, chemical substances produced by practically all forms of life, represent a chemically broad group of compounds. Many of them are very toxic for human and represent a serious jeopardy because they may be misused through chemical warfare or terrorist attacks. This danger has been increasing recently because toxins are more and more available due to modern synthetic methods and application of genetic engineering. Therefore the international community adopted multilateral conventions and control regimes, which regulate handling with toxins. These fundamentals are implemented into the Czech system of law too.

[Hygienic aspects of elimination of chemical weapons in the Russian Federation]. / Gigienicheskie aspekty unichtozheniia khimicheskogo oruzhiia v Rossiiskoi Federatsii.

A specialized and unified package of measures has been developed for hygienic provision of work on the elimination of chemical weapons. The optimum algorithms of hygienic studies have been defined at all stages of the elimination of chemical weapons from the start of design of operations to conversion and transition for national economic needs. Guidelines for safe work at the objects of elimination of chemical weapons and for the protection of the environment and human health in the areas where they are located--have been developed.