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.

Contents

• Subcommittee on Toxicity Values for Selected Nerve and vesicant Agents
• Committee on Toxicology
• Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
• Commission on Life Sciences
• Other Recent Reports of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
• Other Recent Reports of the Committee on Toxicology
• [The National Academies]
• Preface
• Summary
• 1. Introduction and Background
• 2. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for GA (Tabun)
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 3. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for GB (Sarin)
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 4. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for GD (Soman)
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 5. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for GF
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 6. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for VX
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 7. Review of Acute Human-Toxicity Estimates for HD
  • Percutaneous Vapor Exposure
  • Inhalation Vapor Exposure
  • Percutaneous Liquid Exposure
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 8. Evaluation of the Risk-Estimation Procedures Used in the CDEPAT Report
  • 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

The project was supported by contract DAMD 17-89-C-9086 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Defense. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.