Evaluation of Chemical Warfare Agent Percutaneous Vapor Toxicity: Derivation of Toxicity Guidelines for Assessing Chemical Protective Ensembles.

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

Hall

Raber

et al. 2011

In the event of a chemical terrorist attack on a transportation hub, post-event remediation and restoration activities necessary to attain unrestricted facility reuse and re-entry could require hours to multiple days. While restoration timeframes are dependent on numerous variables, a primary controlling factor is the level of pre-planning and decision-making completed prior to chemical terrorist release. What follows is the first of a two-part analysis identifying key considerations, critical information, and decision criteria to facilitate post-attack and post-decontamination consequence management activities. A conceptual site model and human health-based exposure guidelines are developed and reported as an aid to site-specific pre-planning in the current absence of U.S. state or Federal values designated as compound-specific remediation or re-entry concentrations, and to safely expedite facility recovery to full operational status. Chemicals of concern include chemical warfare nerve and vesicant agents and the toxic industrial compounds phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, and cyanogen chloride. This work has been performed as a national case study conducted in partnership with the Los Angeles International Airport and The Bradley International Terminal. All recommended guidelines have been selected for consistency with airport scenario release parameters of a one-time, short-duration, finite airborne release from a single source followed by compound-specific decontamination.

Section: Cwa Tic and Degradation Product Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Cwa Tic and Degradation Product Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Health-Based Pre-Planning Clearance Goals for Airport Remediation Following Chemical Terrorist Attack: Introduction and Key Assessment Considerations

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

Hall

Raber

et al. 2011

“… a DA (2004); Watson et al (2003). b Military guideline established by the Army Office of the Surgeon General (see footnote a). Percutaneous vapor exposure would be a route of concern if personnel wear respiratory protection but experience a rip or tear in the protective suit, or if personnel are in mask-only protective ensemble.…”

Section: Percutaneous Vapor Exposure To Cwasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… a DA (2004) ; Watson et al (2003) . b Military guideline established by the Army Office of the Surgeon General (see footnote a).…”

Section: Percutaneous Vapor Exposure To Cwasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Watson et al (2003) observed that dose effects arising from cumulative percutaneous exposure to the listed CWAs are likely to remain constant for exposures of approximately 30 min to 2 h. Thus, 30 min was selected as a reasonable duration for specialized personnel with CWA expertise to undergo percutaneous exposure to the concentrations provided in Table 1 . Furthermore, 30 min is considered sufficient to allow specialized personnel with fully functional respiratory protection to perform multiple data collection cycles and to then safely exit from a CWA atmosphere.…”

Section: Percutaneous Vapor Exposure To Cwasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developing Health-Based Pre-Planning Clearance Goals for Airport Remediation Following a Chemical Terrorist Attack: Decision Criteria for Multipathway Exposure Routes

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

Dolislager

Hall

et al. 2011

In the event of a chemical terrorist attack on a transportation hub, post-event remediation and restoration activities necessary to attain unrestricted facility re-use and re-entry could require hours to multiple days. While timeframes are dependent on numerous variables, a primary controlling factor is the level of pre-planning and decision-making completed prior to chemical release. What follows is the second of a two-part analysis identifying key considerations, critical information and decision criteria to facilitate post-attack and post-decontamination consequence management activities. Decision criteria analysis presented here provides first-time, open-literature documentation of multi-pathway, health-based remediation exposure guidelines for selected toxic industrial compounds, chemical warfare agents, and agent degradation products for pre-planning application in anticipation of a chemical terrorist attack. Guideline values are provided for inhalation and direct ocular vapor exposure routes as well as percutaneous vapor, surface contact, and ingestion. Target populations include various employees as well as transit passengers. This work has been performed as a national case study conducted in partnership with the Los Angeles International Airport and The Bradley International Terminal. All recommended guidelines have been selected for consistency with airport scenario release parameters of a one-time, short-duration, finite airborne release from a single source followed by compound-specific decontamination.

Development and Application of Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for Chemical Warfare Nerve and Sulfur Mustard Agents

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B

Opresko

Young

et al. 2006

Acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) have been developed for the chemical warfare agents GB, GA, GD, GF, VX, and sulfur mustard. These AEGLs were approved by the National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances after Federal Register publication and comment, and judged as scientifically valid by the National Research Council Committee on Toxicology Subcommittee on AEGLs. AEGLs represent general public exposure limits for durations ranging from 10 min to 8 h, and for three levels of severity (AEGL-1, AEGL-2, AEGL-3). Mild effects are possible at concentrations greater than AEGL-1, while life-threatening effects are expected at concentrations greater than AEGL-3. AEGLs can be applied to various civilian and national defense purposes, including evacuation and shelter-in-place protocols, reentry levels, protective clothing specifications, and analytical monitoring requirements. This report documents development and derivation of AEGL values for six key chemical warfare agents, and makes recommendations for their application to various potential exposure scenarios.