During the Cold War the Western nations and the USSR developed weapons of mass destruction. Although many of these programs are “top secret”, some information is known about the synthesis of chemical agents by the USSR under the FOLIANT and NOVICHOK programs, both developed in response to the English and American development of agent VX….
Continue reading ...
What is this about? Poisoning in children is usually characterized by delirium, convulsion or decreased consciousness. In children under 5 years of age, poison ingestion is unintentional, while in adolescence, self-harm or accidents due to alcohol or drug use appear. The diagnosis must be made quickly in order to treat effectively. We will therefore see…
Continue reading ...
We have had the opportunity on several occasions in this blog to talk about biological warfare. An interesting review has just been published on this subject and it is an opportunity for us to review our current knowledge of this BCRNE threat. Historical background The first to use biological weapons was undoubtedly the Carthaginian general…
Continue reading ...
What is this about? In the field of CBRN, it is common to distinguish “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMD) as nuclear weapons and “Weapons of Mass Disorganization“. The latter, although responsible for very significant physical and psychological injuries, have devastating social and economic disruption consequences that are not comparable in intensity to those of…
Continue reading ...
Today, many fire brigades have equipped their units with thermal cameras. They provide invaluable services in terms of fire detection, victim search or electrical circuit monitoring, for example. For the 125th National Fire Brigade Congress to be held from 26 to 29 September 2018 in Bourg en Bresse, we wanted to know more about the…
Continue reading ...
We have talked about anthrax several times in this blog and have focused on the “biological weapon” aspect of anthrax. We can refresh our memory by following these links : North Corea and anthrax, Sverdlovsk, Sverdlovsk again, 2001 October letter-bomb, Gruinard Island The outbreak this summer of a serious epidemic in France allows us to recall what anthrax…
Continue reading ...In our blog dated August 30, 2016, we already looked at firefighters’ health and in particular the long-term impact of toxic substances such as polycyclic aromatics (PAHs), PCBs, bisphenol A, benzenes and heavy oils, VOCs and other oxygenated compounds causing cancers of the rectum, anus, prostate and liver, melanoma, multiple myeloma and other acute myeloid…
Continue reading ...
A very interesting review article has just been published in the journal “surgery”. It’s signed A. Calder and S. Bland and we can find him by following this link . Several major accidents involving a CBRN component have occurred over the past 25 years. These include the deliberate use of chemicals in Tokyo in 1995 (Sarin), Iraq…
Continue reading ...
We have just learned that 7 ex-members of the Aum sect who participated in the sarin gas attack in Tokyo in March 1995, sentenced to death had just been executed this morning, July 6, 2018. This allows us to come back to this dramatic attack and to assess Sarin gas and its use. Aum Sect…
Continue reading ...
Even if the subject is not an easy one, it is good to remind that the corpses can represent a real danger on the infectious level but also they can be at the origin of chemical or radiological contaminations in the case of situations falling under the NRBCe. We will review the various dangers and…
Continue reading ...