CHAPTER 5: Human Exposures to Sulfur Mustard

The goal of toxicology is to describe or predict the toxic effects of chemicals in humans. Usually, it is not possible to describe anything more than the signs and symptoms of poisoning, and the presence of a toxicant in the tissues of poisoned humans. There are, however, some chemicals for which experimental exposures of human beings have been reported, allowing a more detailed description of the signs and symptoms of poisoning caused by controlled doses of chemicals. Some chemical warfare agents are among these and this chapter describes the experimental exposures of humans to one of them, sulfur mustard (SM), carried out during and between the World Wars. The effects of SM on the eyes and skin of humans and the doses required to produce these effects are described from the publically available literature. Information from the open scientific literature is supplemented with defence reports from the last century now released to the public. The toxicology of SM in humans described in this chapter can be compared to that in animals described in Chapter 2 and highlights the unique reaction of human skin to SM in forming large pendulous blisters that led to SM being dubbed the first “vesicant” or blister agent.