Chemical terrorism

DEFINITION: Use of dangerous toxic chemicals that cause mass casualties and economic damage to achieve the objectives of terrorist groups.

SIGNIFICANCE: The dangers posed to public health by attacks with lethal toxic chemicals are potentially catastrophic. When such attacks occur or are threatened, forensic toxicologists, public health officials, and law-enforcement agencies work together closely to identify the toxins involved, treat victims, decontaminate affected areas, bring perpetrators to justice, and provide protection to the public against future attacks.

Chemical agents capable of causing life-threatening injuries and death present serious threats to human communities. Many agents can be easily produced and disseminated in the atmosphere or public water and food supplies. When they make contact with human skin, mucous membranes, eyes, and respiratory and digestive systems, they can have harmful and even lethal effects. The dangers posed by chemical weapons are made greater by the ready availability of information on how to produce them in printed publications and on the Internet. Would-be terrorists with little or no chemistry training can produce dangerous chemicals easily and cheaply.

Chemical Toxins in History

Although potential uses of chemicals as poison weapons have been known for several centuries, they were not used as important weapons until World War I (1914–1918). In that European conflict, Germany, which then had the world’s largest chemical industry, introduced poison gases into combat against Allied ground troops. The numbers of casualties from gas attacks were small in comparison with the overall casualty rates that troops suffered in that war. Nevertheless, the disruptions caused by fear of gas attacks and the need for troops to adopt protective equipment and procedures made poison gas an effective weapon. New lethal chemicals were produced during World War II but were not used as extensively in that conflict as in the earlier war, partly because of conventions against their use that the combatants honored.

After World War II, research and development on chemical weapons accelerated. By the late twentieth century, chemical weapons remained integral parts of many countries’ secret military programs. Proliferation of these weapons gave many nations reason for concern that some of them might fall into the hands of terrorist organizations and be used in attacks that would overwhelm public health care delivery systems and cause high fatality rates and general chaos. By the early twenty-first century, no terrorist group had yet successfully mounted a large-scale chemical attack, but numerous small-scale attacks had occurred, and that some groups have planned larger attacks has been found.

During the 1970s, a radical political group known as the Weather Underground Organization, or Weathermen, threatened to use chemical toxins during its series of terrorist attacks on institutions of the US government. In 1984, an animal liberation group claimed it had laced candy bars manufactured by Mars, Incorporated, with rat poison. That claim moved the company to recall millions of chocolate bars and sustain a hefty economic loss. In 1985, federal agents found large quantities of potassium cyanide when they raided the Arkansas headquarters of an extremist organization called The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord. That organization’s apparent intention was to poison the water supply of several large cities. In 1989, Israeli forces found a stockpile of toxic chemicals in a Tel Aviv hideout of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Three years later, a German neo-Nazi group attempted to pump hydrogen cyanide gas into a synagogue.

Two widely publicized atrocities involving chemical toxins occurred in Iraq and Japan. During the 1990s, the Iraqi government used chemical weapons against its own Kurdish citizens. In Japan, members of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult attacked civilians in the Tokyo subway system with the nerve gas sarin in 1995. When afterward raided the headquarters of the cult, which was later renamed Aleph, they found significant quantities of dangerous biological agents.

Combating Chemical Terrorism

The success of chemical terrorist attacks depends on the types of agent used, the ports of introduction of those agents, the methods of disseminating the agents, and the weather conditions. Nerve gas agents such as sarin and VX are strongly toxic and associated with high fatality rates. When such agents are disseminated in the open air, high humidity, high air temperatures, and strong winds can affect their potency and diminish their effectiveness. By contrast, when such agents are disseminated within enclosed buildings, fatality rates are likely to be high. Similarly, the dissemination of such agents with rockets or explosive ammunition in almost any environment can cause massive casualties. Poisoning an entire city’s water supply is unlikely to be a practical method of chemical attack because of the massive amounts of toxic chemicals needed to make them effective in a large water system. Chemicals such as cyanide are most dangerous when they are used to target patrons of individual eating places or they are introduced into commercially sold beverages or foods.

Collaboration among the forensic experts and security agents of law-enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, and public health agencies is especially important in investigations of suspected attacks. The first task of any investigation is to determine exactly what has happened and whether, in fact, chemical or biological agents have been used. The investigators then work to identify the toxic agents and their source.

Forensic scientists are assisted by security agents in collecting samples from crime scenes. The identification of any chemical agents that are collected assists health care professionals to provide treatment for survivors of the attacks. Public health officials also use forensic investigators’ findings to plan and execute environmental decontamination of such crime scenes. Public health officials also work to identify everyone who has been exposed to the toxic agents, provide needed treatment, and monitor their health in case complications later emerge.

Terrorist Incidents in Japan

Immediately after a chemical attack in the Japanese city of Matsumoto in 1994, local police were alerted to a strange illness that claimed the lives of 7 victims and hospitalized 274 others. An initial investigation of the area that had been attacked found dead animals and abnormal changes in vegetation of the area. Autopsies found similarly unusual pathologies in the organs of human victims. Finally, a forensic analysis of the water in a pond within the area found traces of sarin nerve gas, conclusive proof of a deliberate chemical attack.

Japan suffered another, similar attack in March 1995, during the midst of rush-hour commuter traffic in a Tokyo subway station. This attack exposed more than five thousand people to the dangerous sarin gas. The survivors of this attack who were checked by medical teams demonstrated symptoms similar to those of victims in the previous year’s incident. Likewise, forensic pathological examinations of the dead revealed pathologies similar to those of the previous year’s victims. Evidence collected from the subway attack confirmed the presence of sarin.

These events demonstrated the importance of close collaboration between security agencies and forensic experts in the investigation of suspected chemical terrorist attacks. The role of security agents is crucial in secluding the area affected by an attack, both to preserve evidence and to prevent more people from becoming exposed to any noxious agents. Security agents also serve important functions during rescue efforts, particularly in the management of mass-casualty disasters such as the Tokyo subway chemical terrorist attack.

Examples of Chemical Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

In October 2011, a bomb made up of homemade cleaning solvents contained in a Gatorade bottle was thrown into an Occupy Maine protest gathering in Portland, Maine. A kitchen and first aid center were in the near vicinity of the thrown object. However, no injuries were reported.

On January 7, 2023, an Iranian man and his brother were detained near Dortmund, Germany, on suspicions of planning a chemical terrorism attack. One of these individuals was reportedly arrested with quantities of cyanide and ricin. The two men were suspected of having connections to an Islamic terrorist organization. Following the incident, The Guardian reported that the arrest was made possible through cooperation with a foreign agency thought to be the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

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