Page 58 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

0
2,2 DICHLORODIETHYL SULFIDE

Interesting Facts

• Another name for mustard • Mustard gas was not used
gas, yprite, comes from during World War II. The
the Belgian city Ypres compound was, nonethe-
(pronounced ‘‘EE-pr’’’), less, responsible for the
where the compound was deaths of more than 100
first use as a military U.S. men. On December 2,
weapon. 1943, a German attack on
the harbor of Bari, Italy,
• The use of mustard gas
resulted in the sinking of
was outlawed by the
about two dozen ships.
Chemical Weapons
Some of those ships were
Convention, adopted in
carrying mustard gas.
1993. The United States
When they sank, they
starting destroying its
released the gas into the
stockpile of mustard gas
surrounding water, where
even earlier, in 1985, and is
survivors inhaled and
now thought to have none
swallowed the poisonous
of the chemical agent left.
compound.
has been used in one other very different way: in the treat-
ment of cancer. The husband and wife medical team of E.B.
and H.D. Krumbhaar discovered in 1919 that mustard gas was
effective in treating cancer in experimental animals. (They
called the compound by its then-popular name, yellow cross
gas.) The compound was one of the first chemicals to be used
in the treatment of cancer. Researchers continued to study
the cancer-fighting properties of mustard gas for more than
twenty years, but the compound has never been widely used
for that purpose.
The effects of exposure to mustard gas vary over time. At
first, a person who has inhaled the gas may become nau-
seated, experience itchy and sore eyes, and begin vomiting.
His or her skin turns red and blisters may develop. Exposure
to large amounts of the gas may result in permanent damage
to the eyes and respiratory system resulting, in the worst
cases, in coma and death. People exposed to mustard gas who
survive may later develop mouth, lung, or stomach cancer.

CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS 7