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Recent agreements between Brazil and the United States on defence and security
Published in Howard M. Hensel, Maria Filomena Fontes Ricco, Culture and Defence in Brazil, 2017
The country created the Brazilian Space Agency in 1994 and in the following year joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), disavowing the development of cruise missiles capable of mass destruction. In 1996, Brazil presented resolution drafts at the UN, joining the New Agenda Coalition toward a world free of nuclear weapons. In July 1998, Brazil signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In September 1998, despite considering the NPT discriminatory, Brazil ended up signing the treaty. In regard to chemical weapons, Brazil is an originating member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). OPCW was created in April 1997 and provides for the universal, comprehensive, non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of all kinds of chemical weapons. As a member of the Convention for the Prohibition of Biological Weapons in the 1990s, Brazil positioned itself among the proponents of a verification system of compliance with the obligations assumed by states on the control of biological weapons. In short, since the return to democracy in the 1980s, the country joined virtually all mechanisms and international and regional regimes of non-proliferation, at the same time maintaining an unconditional defence of the environment and human rights.
Chemicals, workplaces and law
Published in Chris Winder, Neill Stacey, Occupational Toxicology, 2004
Chemical weapons legislation should be consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The CWC is an international treaty that bans the development, production or use of chemical weapons, and requires the destruction of existing weapons. This treaty requires the identification of facilities that produce or use chemicals that have been identified as useful in the production of chemical weapons. The treaty requires the reporting of quantities of listed chemicals imported, used, produced or exported and also contains provisions for inspection of such facilities by international teams.
Monitoring and Detection Equipment for Terrorist Agents
Published in Robert A. Burke, Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders, 2017
Chemical, biological, and radiological weapons have distinct characteristics and carry varying consequences. Each category of weapon encompasses a wide variety of agents. In general, chemical weapons are extremely lethal, highly toxic poisons that move in a gaseous or liquid form. Chemical agents are especially dangerous when deployed in confined spaces. For example, whereas cyanide vapor released in an open space may be diluted rapidly, resulting in minimal impact, the same amount of vapor released in an enclosed space may be lethal.
GC/MS and DFT studies of S,S-dialkyl methylphosphonothioloselenoates related to Schedule 2.B.04 of Chemical Weapons Convention
Published in Journal of Sulfur Chemistry, 2019
Hamid Saeidian, Ali Soleimani Karimabad, Mahmood Payeghadr, Mehran Babri
Chemical weapons are still a threat [1], and the international community should work together based on Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for a world free of such weapons. The CWC prohibits production and usage of chemical weapons. The treaty has been signed by 193 countries, and the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) enforces the CWC in part by maintaining an international network of designated laboratories to verify the presence of CWC-related chemicals in a sample of a suspected agent [2]. Official proficiency tests (PTs) are regularly conducted by the OPCW to evaluate the analytical capability of the designated laboratories. In such evaluation, chromatographic techniques coupled with mass spectrometry are useful analytical methods for separation and structural characterization of the CWC-related chemicals during PTs and off/on-site analysis [3–7]. However, mass spectra of a lot of the CWC-related chemicals are not available in commercial libraries.
Adsorption sensitivity of pristine and Al- or Si-doped boron nitride nanoflake to COCl2: a DFT study
Published in Molecular Physics, 2019
Roghayeh Moladoust, Mehdi D. Esrafili, Akram Hosseinian, Ibon Alkorta, Esmail Vessally
Phosgene (COCl2) gas is of historical interest and has important industrial applications today. Historically, it was one of the main chemical weapon used during World War I. It is estimated that nearly 80% of the poison gas deaths during that war were caused by phosgene exposure. COCl2 is generally released by combustion of carbon tetrachloride, trichloro-ethylene, and other halogenated hydrocarbons in common materials like plastic foam. Exposure to COCl2 can cause severe breathing difficulty, eye and throat irritation and even lung damage [1,2]. Therefore, the development of an effective monitoring technique to detect this toxic gas is an important topic for environmental protection.
Rutherford and Russian Physics: the critical influence of the human factor
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2021
The First World War became the first war in which chemical weapons were used. Nikolai Shilov was appointed the head of the technical equipment producing gas masks for the Russian troops on the Western and South-Western fronts.