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Guidelines for Chemical Warfare Agents in Military Field Drinking Water (1995) / Chapter Skim
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6 GUIDELINES FOR LEWISITE
Pages 43-48

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From page 43...
... Like other blister agents, it not only produces casualties but also restricts use of terrain, hampers troop movements, and requires cumbersome protective gear (Somani, 19921. It is a colorless, oily liquid at room temperature with a faint "geraniumlike" odor.
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From page 44...
... The lipid solubility of lewisite also contributes to its toxic effects; trivalent arsenic readily penetrates skin, exerting its toxic action systemically and causing paired localized blistering. As a systemic toxicant, lewisite produces puhnonary edema, diarrhea, restlessness, weakness, subnormal temperature, and low blood pressure.
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From page 45...
... Neither saturation of fields nor delivery of thickened lewisite vapors Trough bomb and airplane spray has proved to be effective. This lack of sufficient exposure to lewisite might also account for the dearth of epidemiological data on the heady effects of lewisite, although the literature on the toxic effects of arsenic in humans is abundant.
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From page 46...
... No direct eviderlce exists that lewisite might cause neurological problems in humans, although arsenic is considered a neurotoxin and peripheral neuropathy has been reported in humans following a single arsenic exposure (Le Quesne and McLeod, 19771. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Given the limited data on the acute health effects associated with exposure to lewisite through ingestion of water by animals and humans, the subcommittee concludes that the Army's proposed interim standards for lewisite in military field drinking water are sufficient to reduce the risk of lewisite-induced health effects or performance degradation.
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From page 47...
... · Some evidence suggests that lewisite might be carcinogenic (CDC, 19881; as a consequence, there might be some risk of developing malignancy later in life following lewisite exposure at the guideline levels. At present, there are no field drinking-water monitoring capabilities that can reliably detect lewisite or elemental arsenic at the recommended concentrations.
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Key Terms

  • chemical warfare
  • drinking water
  • field drinking
  • warfare agent
  • sulfur mustard

  • trivalent arsenic
  • detect lewisite
  • toxic effects
  • acute exposure
  • lewisite produces

  • epidemiological data
  • blood pressure
  • military field
  • low blood
  • lewisite following

  • subnormal temperature
  • following dermal
  • lewisite leads
  • pulmonary edema
  • dermal exposure

  • limited epidemiological
  • systemic toxicity
  • wider temperature
  • peripheral neuropathy
  • information exists

  • little information
  • intensive observations
  • interspecies extrapolation
  • performance degradation
  • primarily responsible


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