USE OF GAS IN WAR

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1935, Page 13

USE OF GAS IN WAR

RED CROSS INVESTIGATION difficulties of protection. INSIDIOUS NATURE OF MUSTARD. Among the literature so far received Ly the New Zealand headquarters of the Red Cross Society is the general booklet on gas warfare published by the British Society, written by Major-Gen-eral D J. Collins, C. 8., C.M.G., M.D., and Major (R.A.M.C.) H. Stuart Blackmore, 0.8. E., M.R.C.S., 1.D.5., D.P.H. In its sections dealing with the effects of gases of various types upon their victims it states cold facts without any attempt to play upon emotions or to create dramatic effects. And for that plain, cold writing, covering in a few pages the full »ange of known gases, it is more convincing, more telling, than such popular writings as those of Beverley Nichols in his description of the grey men at the testing station in “Cry Havoc, says a Red Cross circular. It is a statement of terrible facts, as they may affect' civilians, not disciplined troops. Reading it, one wonders whether in fact any measures that are practicable can afford those who live in the great cities of the old world any general degree of protection from the threat that may take the air two hours away i n an enemy country and rain civilised abomination on populations powerless to move away. That is a thought that is striking home in all old world cities and in Asiatic centres, the double impossibility of full protection and of evacuation. At most only partial protection can be given against the appearance of aircraft overhead and only partial protection against contamination from gas. That is recognised by the British Red Cross, but to the extent that protection of the civilian is possible the society (in every country, not merely in British countries) is working in downright earnestness. WAR ON THE CIVILIAN? The writers discuss the question whether gas warfare is less or more inhuman than the warfare of steel and high explosive, and leave the question open as regards the fighting forces, but, they continue:— • Chemical warfare cannot be considered to be anything but inhuman and barbarous when used against a civil population that has no means of protection . . . Although it is sincerely hoped that use will not be made of this weapon in any future war, the present state of world opinion is still, unfortunately, a little sceptical ... In future there will be no interval to make up for want of war preparation, and we must be ready, on the outbreak of war, with all arrangements for dealing with aerial attack directed at, or involving the civil population. Chemical warfare agents are classified under the four recognised headings—eye irritants; lung Irritants; throat, nose, and chest irritants; and skin irritants. It is not possible in this article to quote the booklet in its detailed statements of the composition and characteristics, effects and remedial measures, for each of these types. Some (tear gases and arsenical poison smokes) strike the victim at once, but relief follows rapidly on removal from the danger area. The lung irritants, highly lethal in heavy concentrations (1 to 10,000 parts of air) do not show their deadly effects for 20 to 25 hours, when, if badly gassed, the victim literally drowns in the fluid poured out in his lungs, or, if he gasps an agonised recovery, suffers a prolonged invalidism. The skin irritant, mustard gas, which produced 80 per cent, of gas casualties during the war, though not the majority of gas deaths, produces no immediate irritation, but after three to 24 hours produces blisters on the skin, ulceration of the eyes and threat, severe damage to the lungs, and intestinal injury if contaminated food is eaten. Mustard gas (which gets its name only from the similarity of smell) has five main characteristics.

1. Extreme persistence and power. 2. Penetration of materials and living tissues. 3. Insidiousness. 4. Delayed action, and no symptoms for some hours. 5. Universal action—it will damage any part of the living body, outside or in. IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. Because of the rapidity with which mustard can penetrate either clothing or living tissues, preventive treatment must be carried out within ten to fifteen minutes of exposure to be successful. Clothing must be at once removed by a protected undresser. To remove one’s own clothing would be to add a further risk of hand infection. For a mother to strip her child would mean a double tragedy. The eyes call for immediate attention, for they are most vulnerable of all to mustard. The next step is to remove the mustard from the skin (by a protected worker) by thorough and complete scrubbing of the skin with hot soap and water. The chance of complete success steadily diminishes with the interval that elapses from the first ten minutes after exposure. Is it conceivable that in the panic that must inevitably follow upon a gas attack upon civilians, without masks, and without special protective clothing that is essential for a few hours of safety (and thereafter fails) effective steps could be taken in the first ten minutes, particularly when no sign of injury will appear for hours after exposure to droplet, or gas? Food is infected—yet shows no sign of chemical rottenness—unless it has been kept in sealed or specially-wrapped containers. Every walker through a contaminated area may spread the danger in his steps. PROTECTIVE CLOTHING. “If the feet and legs are protected, one can walk in safety over contaminated ground. After a time, however, the leggings become contaminated and must ce discarded, when improvised wrapping should be substituted. Boots well smeared with dubbin will keep out mustard for several hours .... “Oiled fabrics are particularly resistant to mustard; thick oilskins, such as worn by sailors, resist penetration for five or six hours. “Gas-proof gloves arc made oi medium-weight oiled fabric, but they render any fine work, as m dressing stations, difficult. (Rubber gloves are quickly per#crated.) “Ordinary clothing is penetrated by mustard in a few minutes. “Owing to the restriction of the free escape of heat from the body which the wearing of such clothing (coat and trousers of naval oilskin, gloves, and mask) entails, the time an individual can work in an airtight suit is very limited, probably not more than half an hour of ordinary light work. “It is safer to destroy all food that has been exposed to mustard gas, but in emergency it may be used after cutting off the outside parts. “Exposed water should Always be re- * “ ‘Lewisite’ (discovered by Professor Lewis, U.S.A., in 1918, and not used during the war) is a liquid like mustard and

is persistent ... Its effects are apparent much earlier; thus, if any liquid lewisite touches the skin, lesions are caused within twenty minutes. “The skin must be well scrubbed with hot water and soap for five minutes, and if this is done within twenty minutes the results are satisfactory, but success depends upon very prompt treatment. A TASK WITHOUT PRECEDENT. Enough has been quoted from the cold statement of fact m the British Red Cross handbook to indicate what a stupendous task lies before the organisations that set out to teach and protect the undisciplined civil population against the threatening new weapon. The Red Cross admits the practical impossibility of full safeguard, as the Governments of the world to-day admit the impossibility of turning back all enemy aircarft, but the society and all allied organisations are working to the limit of the possible. In this new work there is involved far greater expenditure upon special equipment —masks, special clothing and boots (good for a few hours only), material for the construction of gas-trap entrances to treating stations, chemicals for decontamination and cleansing stations than has ever had to be faced before. Here in New Zealand we are far distant from any appa: it threat of the new warfare, and it is easy and comfortable to be blind to a picture of panic and horror of a gas attack on civilians, but, far away as we are, the blindness is not excusable. The Red Cross, in taking its present step, is following a lead given by the older countries, and now taken up the world over.