Chemical Weapons-Mustard Gas by Nicanor and Morrie

Category: Weapons of Mass Destruction

Mustard Gas was first used by the German army against British soldiers in World War I. The gas wis dispersed as aerosol, and was not easily disguised because it had a distinctive brown and yellow color and odor. Since it was obvious that an attack was coming, soldiers could defend themselves from the gas by putting on a gas mask.
Mustard gas was contagious in that if it was on a soldier's clothes, other soldiers who came in contact with that soldier could get infected. If infected, soldiers would become temporarily incapacitated. Death occurred in only one percent of infections.
Chemical warfare, including the use of mustard gas, was banned by the Geneva Protocol in 1925, but mustard gas was still used afterwards, even relatively recently. The most recent use of mustard gas was by Sudan against insurgents in its civil war in 1997.