Incapacitating agent
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Incapacitating agent is a chemical or biological agent which renders a person unable to harm themselves or others, regardless of consciousness.[1]
The term "incapacitation," when used in a general sense, is not equivalent to the term "disability" as used in occupational medicine and denotes the inability to perform a task because of a quantifiable physical or mental impairment. In this sense, any of the chemical warfare agents may incapacitate a victim; however, by the military definition of this type of agent, incapacitation refers to impairments that are temporary and nonlethal. Thus, riot-control agents are incapacitating because they cause temporary loss of vision due to blepharospasm, but they are not considered military incapacitants because the loss of vision does not last long. Although incapacitation may result from physiological changes such as mucous membrane irritation, diarrhea, or hyperthermia, the term "incapacitating agent" as militarily defined refers to a compound that produces temporary and nonlethal impairment of military performance by virtue of its psychobehavioral or CNS effects.
In
History
Early uses
The use of chemicals to induce altered states of mind in an adversary dates back to antiquity and includes the use of plants of the
In 1881, members of a French railway surveying expedition crossing
The 20th century
Following
US survey and testing programs
By 1958 a search of the
A Central Intelligence Agency
The concept of "humane warfare" with widespread use of incapacitating or deliriant drugs such as LSD or Agent BZ to stun an enemy, capture them alive, or separate friend from foe had been available in locations such as Berlin since the 1950s, an initial focus of US CBW development was the offensive use of diseases, drugs, and substances that could completely incapacitate an enemy for several days with some lesser possibility of death using a variety of chemical, biological, radiological, or toxin agents.[11] The US Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorized operational field testing of LSD in interrogations in the early 1960s. The first field tests were conducted in Europe by an Army Special Purpose Team (SPT) during May to August 1961 in tests known as Project THIRD CHANCE. The second series of field tests, Project DERBY HAT, were conducted by an Army Special Purpose Team in the Far East during August to November 1962.[12]
A study of possible uses of migratory birds in germ warfare was funded through Camp Detrick for years using the Smithsonian as a cover. Government documents have linked the Smithsonian to the CIA's mind control program known as
A U.S. War Departments report notes that "in addition to the results of human experimentation much data is available from the Japanese experiments on animals and food crops."[17] German researchers have found that records of the Entomology Institute at the Dachau concentration camp show that under orders of Schutzstaffel (SS) leader Heinrich Himmler, the Nazis began studying mosquitoes as an offensive biological warfare vector against humans in 1942. It was generally thought by historians that the Nazis only intended ever to use biological weapons defensively.[18]
Project 112 included objectives such as “the feasibility of an offshore release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes as a vector for infectious diseases,” and “the feasibility of a biological attack against an island complex.”[19] "The feasibility of area coverage with adedes aegypti mosquitoes was based on the Avon Park, Florida mosquito trials."[20] Several CIA documents, and a 1975 Congressional committee, revealed that several locations in Florida, as well as Avon Park, hosted experiments with mosquito-borne viruses and other biological substances. Formerly top-secret documents related to the CIA's
Sleeping gas
Sleeping gas is an oneirogenic general anaesthetic that is used to put subjects into a state in which they are not conscious of what is happening around them. Most sleeping gases have undesirable side effects, or are effective at doses that approach toxicity.
It is primarily used for major surgeries and to render non-dangerous animals unconscious for research purposes.
Examples of modern
Side effects
Possible side effects might not prevent use of sleeping gas by criminals willing to
Moscow theatre siege
There is one documented case of incapacitating agents being used in recent years. In 2002, Chechen terrorists took a large number of hostages in the
Scientists at Britain's chemical and biological defense labs at Porton Down analyzed residue from the clothing of three hostages and the urine of one hostage rescued during the Moscow theater hostage crisis and found two chemical derivatives of fentanyl, remifentanil and carfentanil.[28]
Bolivian rapes
In a
When two of these men were caught in the act of entering one of the women's homes, they implicated friends in the rapes to local authorities. Eventually nine Manitoba men, ages 19 to 43, were charged with using a spray adapted from an anesthetic by a veterinarian from a neighboring Mennonite colony to subdue their victims, then raping them. Eight of the accused were found guilty of rape, one escaped from the local jail before the end of the trial, and the veterinarian was found guilty of being an accomplice to the rapes. According to at least three residents of the colony, a local prosecutor, and a local journalist, these "ghost rapes" continue despite imprisonment of the men convicted in the 130 original rapes.[29]
Rape drugs
A date rape drug, also called a predator drug, is any drug that can be used as incapacitating agent to assist in the execution of
"The findings by Du Mont and colleagues support the view that alcohol plays a major role in drug-facilitated sexual assault. Previously, Weir noted that cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault were frequently found to involve alcohol, marijuana or cocaine, and were less likely to involve drugs, such as flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate, that are commonly described as being used in this context. Similar findings have been reported by others, including Hall and colleagues, in a recent retrospective study from Northern Ireland".
— Butler B, Welch J (3 March 2009). "Drug-facilitated sexual assault". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 180 (5): 493–4.
"Knockout gas"
A fictional form of incapacitating agent, sometimes known as "knockout gas", has been a staple of pulp detective and science fiction novels, movies and television shows. It is presented in various forms, but generally is supposed to be a gas or aerosol that affords a harmless method of rendering characters quickly and temporarily unconscious without physical contact. This is in contrast to chloroform, a liquid anesthetic—itself a common element in genre fiction—that requires a vide victim to be physically subdued before it can be applied.
A number of notable fictional characters created in the early 20th century, both villains and heroes, were associated with the use of knockout gas:
The U.S. Army psychiatrist James S. Ketchum, who worked for almost a decade on the U.S. military's top secret psychochemical warfare program, relates a story relevant to the concept of a "knockout gas" in his 2006 memoir, Chemical Warfare Secrets Almost Forgotten. In 1970, Ketchum and his boss were visited by CIA agents for a brainstorming session at his Maryland laboratory. The agents wanted to know if an incapacitating agent (his specialty) could be used to intervene in the ongoing hijacking of a Tel Aviv aircraft by Palestinian terrorists without injuring the hostages.
We considered the pros and cons of using incapacitating agents and various other options. As it turned out, we could not imagine a scenario in which any available agent could be pumped into the airliner without the hijackers possibly reacting violently and killing passengers. Ultimately, the standoff was resolved by other means.[32]
Arguably, the use of
See also
- Demoralization (warfare)
- Less-lethal weapon
- Psychochemical weapon
- Mickey Finn (drugs)
References
- ^ "CDC - The Emergency Response Safety and Health Database: Glossary - NIOSH". www.cdc.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
- ^ Dembek, Zygmunt (editor), Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare Archived 2021-09-25 at the Wayback Machine; Washington, DC: Borden Institute (2007), pg 5.
- ^ "Incapacitating Agents". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ Grey, Michael R.; Spaeth, Kenneth R. (2006), "Chapter 10. A Brief History of Biological Weapons", The Bioterrorism Sourcebook, New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, retrieved 2021-01-20
- ^ Grey, Michael R.; Spaeth, Kenneth R. (2006), "Chapter 21. Introduction to Chemical Weapons", The Bioterrorism Sourcebook, New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, retrieved 2021-01-20
- ^ CBWInfo.com (2001). A Brief History of Chemical and Biological Weapons: Ancient Times to the 19th Century Archived 2004-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
- ISBN 978-1-4772-7589-4.
- PMID 12378672.
- ^ a b Martell, Zoe; Albarelli, H.P. Jr. (July 21, 2010). "Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments". truth-out.org. Truth-Out. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
- ISBN 978-81-7648-732-0.
- ^ Hersh, Seymour (1967). Chemical and Biological Warfare America's Hidden Arsenal. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company. p. 354.
- ^ 1977 Senate Hearings on MKULTRA--APPENDIX A. Documents Referring To Subprojects This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Richards, Bill (June 17, 1977). "Data shows 50's projects: Germ Testing by the CIA" (PDF). Washington Post. p. A1. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
- S2CID 90838207.
- ^ Rauzon, Mark J. (November 19, 2006). "Live Ammo: The Pacific Project exposed U.S. sailors to biowarfare and chemical agents". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
- ^ Notes for Project SHAD presentation by Jack Alderson given to Institute of Medicine on April 19, 2012 for SHAD II study[permanent dead link] This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ U.S. War Department, War Crimes Office Report (undated), retrieved: January 17, 2014 Archived February 3, 2004, at the Wayback Machine This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Nazis 'wanted to use mosquitoes as a weapon', February 14, 2014, (English) retrieved February 14, 2014
- ISBN 978-0-674-04513-2.
- ^ Valero, Marc (April 6, 2014). "What happened in the 1950s at Avon Park Air Force Range?". Archived from the original on April 19, 2014.
- PMID 12789409.
- PMID 19547737.
- PMID 26528506.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
- ^ a b "New spate of attacks by sleeping gas gang, caravanners warned". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
- ISBN 9781890605100.
examples of sleeping gas.
- ^ a b "Russia names Moscow siege gas". CNN. 2002-10-30. Archived from the original on 2009-06-07. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ PMID 23002178.Analysis of Clothing and Urine from Moscow Theatre Siege Casualties Reveals Carfentanil and Remifentanil Use
- ^ a b Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. "The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia". VICE.com. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- ISBN 978-0849398087.
- PMID 19255067.
- ^ Ketchum, James S. (2006, 2nd edition 2007), Chemical Warfare Secrets Almost Forgotten: A Personal Story of Medical Testing of Army Volunteers during the Cold War (1955–1975), Santa Rosa, CA: ChemBook, Inc, 380 pp. Revised edition (2012), published by AuthorHouse. Quote is from page 226 of the 2012 edition.