Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for Selected Chemical-Warfare Agents

No reliable acute-exposure1 standards have been established for the particular purpose of protecting soldiers from toxic exposures to chemical warfare (CW) agents. Some human-toxicity estimates are available for the most common CW agents—organophosphorus nerve agents and vesicants; however, most of those estimates were developed for offensive purposes (that is, to kill or incapacitate the enemy) and were intended to be interim values only. Because of the possibility of a chemical attack by a foreign power, the Army's Office of the Surgeon General asked the Army's Chemical Defense Equipment Process Action Team (CDEPAT) to review the toxicity data for the nerve agents GA (tabun), GB(sarin), GD (soman), GF, and VX, and the vesicant agent sulfur mustard (HD) and to establish a set of exposure limits that would be useful in protecting soldiers from toxic exposures to those agents. This report is an independent review of the CDEPAT report to determine the scientific validity of the proposed estimates.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
Summary
1 - Introduction and Background
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Threshold Effects
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Mild Effects
ED50 for Severe Effects
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Severe Effects
Lethal Effects (LD50)
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Threshold Effects
ECt50 for Severe Effects
Lethal Effects (LD50)
ED50 for Severe Effects
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Threshold Effects
ECt50 for Severe Effects
Lethal Effects (LD50)
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Severe Effects
ECt50 for Threshold Effects
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
Ect50 for Mild Effects
ED50 for Severe Effects
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Severe Effects
Lethal Effects (LCt50)
ECt50 for Mild Effects
ED50 for Severe Effects
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
USE OF LOG-PROBIT ANALYSIS
USE OF THE ECT50
USE OF CONFIDENCE LIMITS
References
Glossary
Appendix Offensive Versus Defensive Use of Human-Toxicity Estimates for CW Agents
REFERENCE