Chemical Agents

Chemical agents typically present inhalation, ingestion and contact hazards. Some can be delivered as vapour or aerosols and cause poisoning by inhalation.

There are two broad categories of chemical agents:

• toxic industrial chemicals, including commercially produced chemicals, such as:
  
  • chlorine
  • ammonia
  • hydrogen cyanide
  • phosgene
    
    
• chemical warfare agents, which include:
  
  • nerve gases, such as sarin, soman, tabun, GF and VX
  • blister agents, such as mustard gas and Lewisite
  • riot control agents such as CS and tear gas
  
  
  

Biological Agents

A release of a biological agent will have strong similarities to the outbreak of a naturally occurring disease and may take days to first become apparent and weeks to evolve. For this reason, biological attacks can be hard to detect and/or identify.

Examples of biological agents include:

• bacteria, such as anthrax and plague
• viruses, such as smallpox and viral haemorrhagic fevers e.g. Ebola
• fungi, such as that causing Valley Fever and histoplasmosis
• biological toxins, such as ricin and botulinum