Environmental and biomedical sample analysis in support of allegations of use of chemical warfare agents

In cases of allegations of use of chemical weapons, supporting evidence may be obtained from the analysis of environmental samples for chemical agents and their degradation products, and from the analysis of biomedical samples for metabolites and covalent adducts of agents with proteins and DNA. The concentrations of analytes may vary from parts per million or higher, down to sub-parts per billion, requiring a number of different mass spectral techniques. This paper provides an overview of the analysis of environmental and biomedical samples associated with the use of chemical warfare agents in the Iraq-Iran conflict, and against the Kurdish population in Iraq. It is based, in part, on a presentation to the International Symposium on NBC Terrorism Defence, held in the 10th anniversary year of the terrorist dissemination of sarin in the Tokyo subway, 20 March 1995.