Introduction
Cyanide is a faster acting and potentially poisonous chemical which may exist in different forms. For instance, it can be a colorless gas such as cyanogen chloride, hydrogen cyanide or as a crystal form like potassium cyanide as well as sodium cyanide. It is naturally available in some food as well as specific plants like cassava. It is also available in the cigarette smoke and when combusting certain synthetic materials like plastics. Furthermore, cyanide is present during the manufacturing of papers, plastics as well as textiles. For example, industry within the US does manufacture about 350,000 tons of hydrogen annually (Calafat & Stanfill, 2012). They utilize them in chemical processes, mineral extractions, electroplating, manufacturing of dye, printing industry as well as agricultural sectors. Research has shown that the human body can be able to tolerate a very low level of cyanide without any harm; this is because there is some present of cyanide within the human body. Therefore, the amount of cyanide which can kill a person if administered within a few minutes might be fully metabolized by an individual body if exposed for several hours. Cyanide is mostly absorbed via the mucous membrane, the skin as well as through inhalation.
Agents of cyanide
There are various chemical agents as categorized by the military planners, for example, blister, blood, nerve as well as choking agents. The category process has been carried out in accordance with the effect they have on the individuals on exposure. Therefore, cyanide will fall under blood agent because it falls under the chemical utilized in the most industrial process. Blood agents are referred to as chemicals which cause interference in oxygen utilization within the blood cellular lever. The commonly available agents in this category are hydrogen cyanide as well as cyanide salts. For example, hydrogen cyanide was utilized by French manufacturers during the World War I and also during the German World War II. A Blood agent mostly acts through ingestion or else inhalation and then impairs the usage of cellular oxygen. The central nervous system of an individual is specifically vulnerable to this effect, hence the blood agents always causes death causing oxygen starvation within the brain cells (Eckstein, 2008).
The study clearly shows that blood agent symptoms depend on the exposure duration in addition to the concentration of the officers. For instance, an individual can have dizziness, headache as well as nausea for a longer period. It is then followed by convulsions, breath gasping as well as a cardiac failure within very few minutes. Cyanide as blood agents might be hard to be used as weapons of mass demolition because of their low lethality because a larger volume will be required. Additionally, the fastest dispersal of blood agent in a combination with other agents can be used to cause more considerable causalities, though it cannot be easier on a mass scale (Eckstein, 2008). Furthermore, even the industrially manufactured blood agents are often utilized as on-site without any shipment. Since cyanide as blood agents is driving a lot of interest to terrorist groups, it is more efficient when used for criminal action.
A scenario of hydrogen cyanide released into an office building in my home town
The scenario looks into an attack on the office building in my home town which has a population of about two hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand persons. It is performed by mixing sulfuric acid with potassium cyanide which is both commercially available. The product resulting from this mixture is hydrogen cyanide which is a very toxic gas. The five terrorists pose as ventilation system maintenance workers, and they mix the chemicals on the building roof. The resulting hydrogen cyanide is then drawn into the air intake with the help of the ventilation fans. The hydrogen cyanide will have to spread throughout this building within first five minutes or even less. This gas contains a faint almond dourness, although twenty to fifty percent of individuals are unable to detect hydrogen cyanide in any concentration (Ekmekci et al., 2008).
The approximated concentration that might be lethal for about fifty percent of the people exposed to it ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 mg-mm/m3. Additionally, individuals who have survived the exposure to hydrogen cyanide must not show any long-term health effects resulting from the exposure process. Some of the specifications of the building include; twelve stories, one thousand people in occupancy, the area floor of the building is about 25,000 m2 while the volume is about 65,000 m3. The air flow rate within the ventilation system is approximately 6,000 m3/min while outdoor air intake is approximated to be 1,150 m3/min. On the other hand, the amount of hydrogen cyanide that resulted is thirty-five kilogram while its concentration in the building after about ten minutes is 500 mg/m3. The timescale of hydrogen cyanide in this scenario is as follow; during the period, there should be an insignificant delay between the perceived as well as the real timeline to allow more individuals to be exposed to more gas concentration (Ekmekci et al., 2008). It is because when an alarm is sounded, some individuals might be allowed to have a slight warming time. Since the hydrogen cyanide dissipation is after about one hour, the building authorities may close the building to fasten investigation.
Cyanide terrorism prevention mechanism
There are some mechanisms which when adopted as well as put into place may help in preventing this kind of terrorist attack in such building. Some of these mechanisms include;
Ventilation system monitoring
There should be a well-installed system which is used to monitor the entire building’s ventilation system which has to be very secure. The only personnel who are allowed to maintain or repair the entire ventilation system have to be well trained as well as trustworthy in general. It will ensure a tight security within the building thus reducing any chances of a chemical terrorist attack. There should be an installation of hydrogen cyanide gas sensors within the ventilation system. These sensors will be activating ventilation lock-up devices thus preventing any further spreading of the hydrogen cyanide throughout the building (Hall et al., 2007). The reason for having an efficient ventilation monitoring system is because most terrorists who use poisonous gasses to carry out terror attack are mostly interested in building ventilation system. It will accelerate the flow rate of the poisonous gas throughout the building.
Emergency response to cyanide poisoning
There have been a lot of assumptions that intervention must take place for some seconds or minutes for a successful cyanide exposure to take place. This assumption has made adequate response towards any mass cyanide exposure to be inefficient. Since cyanide can incapacitate as well as kill an individual very fast, depending on the gas concentration, level of exposure as well as gas flow rate, quick respond to the affected persons is necessary. Additionally, due to cyanide faster progression and lack of a diagnostic test to confirm its poisoning level in real time, no intervention initiation needed. Therefore, cyanide poisoning should be presumptively diagnosed if the required intervention is to be more efficient. Hence, faster recognition, as well as empiric involvement by the first cyanide attack respondent, are critical so as to save the lives of many people as well as top reduce the morbidity (Ma & Dasgupta, 2010).
A study done by Fernand Widal from 1990 to 1999 shows that there exist a window of time for increasing an effective response towards hydrogen cyanide attack or else any other mass casualty disaster, more so if the poisoning process is through ingestion. In order to ensure an efficient intervention window of time, prevention effort should consist of educating emergency responders as well as the health care personnel on cyanide as a primary or else small toxicant risk, in addition to cyanide poisoning recognition. Because both signs, as well as symptoms of poisoning which are not very specific, are mostly manifested immediately as well as drastically after cyanide exposure, staff members within such building should be trained on such symptoms. It will help them to offer first aid to the affected persons easily before forwarding them for further treatment if necessary (Spaaij, 2010).
Conclusion
Cyanide terror attack is one of the most used mechanisms by a various terrorist in over populated buildings such as offices, supermarkets, institutions as well as shopping malls. The reason is that there is ventilation system to facilitate this kind of attack. Therefore, it will be for training staff members in such buildings on the signs and symptoms of cyanide poisoning to help in providing medical aid to the affected persons in case there is an attack. Additionally, gas poisoning medication system should be provided in such risky building throughout.
References
Calafat, A. M., & Stanfill, S. B. (2012). Rapid quantitation of cyanide in whole blood by automated headspace gas chromatography. Journal of chromatography B, 772(1), 131-137.
Eckstein, M. (2008). Enhancing public health preparedness for a terrorist attack involving cyanide. The Journal of emergency medicine, 35(1), 59-65.
Ekmekci, Z., Yilmaz, M. D., & Akkaya, E. U. (2008). A monostyryl-boradiazaindacene (BODIPY) derivative as colorimetric and fluorescent probe for cyanide ions. Organic Letters, 10(3), 461-464.
Hall, A. H., Dart, R., & Bogdan, G. (2007). Sodium thiosulfate or hydroxocobalamin for the empiric treatment of cyanide poisoning?. Annals of emergency medicine, 49(6), 806-813.
Ma, J., & Dasgupta, P. K. (2010). Recent developments in cyanide detection: a review. Analytica chimica acta, 673(2), 117-125.
Spaaij, R. (2010). The enigma of lone wolf terrorism: An assessment.Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 33(9), 854-870.
