A vesicant, or blister agent, as its name implies, causes painful burns and the formation of large blisters when it contacts the skin. These blisters are so painful that they cause the victim to become incapacitated. The effects of certain vesicants on the skin, such as mustard gas, might be delayed as long as 24 hours after exposure. If the exposure to the concentrated gas or vapor is long enough, the blisters will be so severe that they will take an extremely long time to heal and can cause the body to go into lethal shock. In addition to blistering and burning, blister agents (sometimes called mustard agents, urticants, or nettle agents) also cause severe tissue damage to the eyes, respiratory system, and internal organs.
The objectives of using blister agents are to produce injuries and to force enemy troops to wear cumbersome protective equipment that would lead them to fight less efficiently and be more easily defeated. Another reason for their use is to have enemy personnel withdraw from fighting to care for the victims of blister agents. Blister agents (with the exception of phosgene oxime) are persistent and will contaminate almost anything they touch for possibly days or weeks. Blister agents can penetrate cell membranes in most body tissues and many materials such as wood, rubber, and plants.
Blister agents, when pure, are colorless and nearly odorless. When an odor is present, the smell is similar to rotting onions or mustard. They, like other chemical weapons, can be thickened by adding a material such as a polymer. This thickening agent will cause the blister agent to adhere to almost any solid object it touches (including the victim) and, therefore, become more effective and persistent. At room temperature, blister agents are stable liquids with low volatility and thus will evaporate more slowly. In warmer climates, the mustards’ persistence is less, but higher concentrations of vapor will be generated. When mustards are dissolved in water, they hydrolyze at fast rates, yielding poly-alcohols and hydrochloric acid.
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