Toxic Trauma: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Exposure to toxic chemicals goes back at least 2000 years with the first use of irritating agents such as smokes and burning sulphur in warfare, a practice which continued until the Middle Ages. The industrial revolution and the development of large-scale chemical industries in Europe laid the basis for the large-scale chemical warfare seen in the First World War. Throughout the remainder of the twentieth century and beyond there were continuing occurrences of mass exposure to chemicals, not only from deliberate release in chemical warfare but also from accidental release by an ever-expanding chemical industry. These had particularly severe consequences in developing countries with limited emergency responses. This chapter presents a brief historical perspective of the toxic trauma produced from exposure to chemical substances in both the military and civil settings.