European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A simulated victim of a Gas attack is washed by corp men wearing protective gear in a  chamber during Drill aboard the Navy Hospital ship mercy in the persian Gulf. Others Ecton Jet ural Nila easily. First. St and mess m. In Stem f left Able gtd re. Is of Jas loss the not with mild exposure a Soldier can treat and cure himself in the Field Quot Zajdowicz said  the symptoms have progressed to the third stage however atropine is not effective. Valium is experts have recently discovered and Zajdowicz said soldiers Are being instructed to administer it to anyone with nerve Gas seizures. Mustard Gas also called Blister Gas or a agent presents a completely different profile of symptoms an Oil based Mist it. Splashes in combined liquid Gas form and can produce Large painful blisters within hours of Contact with the skin. Mustard Gas is most dangerous when inhaled for a Blister forms in the Windpipe and can smother the victim or cause fatal pneumonia Over a period of weeks. A. . Experts instruct soldiers to treat Mustard Gas contamination As quickly As possible with concentrated solutions of chlorine bleach a powerful alkaline substance that neutralizes the Gas. Once formed blisters can be treated likes Burns Zajdowicz said but Healing takes a much longer time. A. The most effective countermeasure is an elaborate hooded chemical  Gas mask designed to cover every part of a Soldier s body with an impermeable shield. The outfit costs $230.85. Soldiers Wear the suit Over their regular uniform and carry it into Battle along with mask gloves and galoshes a like "overboots.�?�. Each Soldier has two suits with him at All times and a third stowed in his base Camp. With prior warning soldiers Don the suit piecemeal conforming to a five step chemical Alert designed to have everyone fully dressed Well before an attack is launched. Chest tical warfare Protection Quot a 4 a a it a fact it desks most important defense against contamination since lungs Are about ,100 times More sensitive to Poison than any other part of the body. Active ingredient in masks is charcoal which reduces almost to Zero the concentration of chemicals in the air. A different masks for ground personnel combat vehicle Crews and aviators but All Are equipped with drinking attachment and voice transmitter. A mask covets face. Rubber and Nylon Hood protects parts of head hot covered by mask and tucks under jacket. Masks must be properly fitted to protect the wearer. A filter at front removes aerosols and smoke. Suits and lightweight two piece suit weighs just Over four pounds. The camouflage or Olive Green jacket a ,&Quot allowing some heat Ana perspiration to pass out of the material and away from the wearer. A outer layer of Cotton and Nylon twill is treated to repel Oil and  a inner layer of polyurethane foam is impregnated with activated charcoal. A soldiers also Don gloves Over boots and hoods made of butyl rubber. A Fri temperatures above 26 degrees centigrade soldiers with full Protection must limit periods of heavy exertion. Detection . Troops have a variety of devices capable of detecting All known chemical warfare agents. A specially treated detection paper that changes color upon Contact with chemical agents. A Field alarms that sound in presence of Mustard Gas or nerve agents. A lightweight hand held electronic chemical agent monitors. Sources the Washington Post. Center Tor defense information. Matthew Meselson Harvard University Coal of omit outlet $230.85 Hood filter s. A but Illy own Les 3s the. Id that d by available Quot was combined with Quot our own expertise in this area Quot to develop data for an Fae warhead for a missile a preliminary Pentagon review determined that no Laws were violated because the Honeywell material was not a classified or restricted under Export Laws. Rather in obtaining the Honeywell data Iraq appears to have exploited. Regulations a something it did in More than a dozen Western countries As part of its billion Dollar Campaign to develop a weapons of mass destruction. Two iraqi efforts to buy Fae bombs from . Military surplus and from an american. Arms company were blocked by a a a a the . Government because the actual devices were subject to strict Export controls As Quot significant military  instead of the bombs Iraq. Bought the technology to. Develop its own Faes. A this was far from an isolated. Example of Iraq s ambitious acquisition Effort a Senate foreign relations committee. Report identifies 132 companies from 14 Western nations that sold military related goods to Iraq including 68 German. Companies and 10 from the United states. A a a Quot a report for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in los Angeles names 86 German companies and 18 american companies that sold equipment to Iraq that could be used to develop nuclear chemical and biological weapons a. Much of this equipment was so called dual use technology which has commercial and military applications the . Government eased Export controls on such devices a bound for Iraq  Effort to ensure Iran s defeat in the 198088 Iraq loan  . Troops now facing Tuffe results of this policy Congress has tried to tighten restrictions. But in november president Bush vetoed Export control legislation that would have imposed mandatory Trade sanctions on nations that use chemical weapons. Instead on dec. 13 the White House announced its own plan to Stem the spread of nuclear. Chemical and biological critics see laxity of . Export controls and peril facing . Troops As a result of the United states quiet Aid to Iraq during its eight year War with Iran. Weapons. At the same time however Bush approved Long delayed Export licenses for the Sale of supercomputers to India China and Brazil. The. Approval Drew Praise from business interests. And complaints from critics worried about the potential use of the computers in designing nuclear weapons. A Faes were developed by . Navy researchers at China Lake calif., who exploded the first one in 1960, according to . Patents and the Honeywell report. The device was refined for  before being dropped from the . Arsenal alter Quot the Vietnam War because it did not fit in with other strategic . The Fae device involves two precisely timed detonations. The principle is similar to filling a room with natural Gas and tossing in a match a a. The bomb contains fuel usually propane or ethylene oxide in one or Moie separate canisters. An initial explosion. Disperses the fuel Over the target resulting in a massive Cloud of Gas and air. The second detonation ignites the mixture creating a huge fireball and a powerful Shock wave the nag Niaudo of these blasts is a subject of debate some experts say that Faes Are far More powerful than conventional explosives and that the resulting fireball and Shock wave carry the devastation Over a wide Region others say that Faes pack Little More punch than conventional explosives. In Public the Pentagon has played Down the Throat from the Faes in Iraq s Arsenal saying that they do not shift the strategic balance Ina potential conflict in simulating a near miss with an Fae device the Navy placed the weapon on a Barge and floated it near a decommissioned destroyer escort off Southern California the distance of the blast from the ship is classified but damage was so severe that the ship had to be towed to deep water whore it Sank  wore used by a s forces to Clear Landing zones and minefields in Vietnam and witnesses reported that even Small devices levelled patches of Forest the size of a football eld. Faes Are most effective in relatively hat regions a such As the desert a where the Shock Waves spread without a interference from Hilts and other obstructions Day Juary 7,1991 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15