Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Mustard gas:
Blistering agents that cause severe damage to the eyes, internal
organs, and respiratory system. Produced for the first time in 1822, mustard
gas was not used until World War 1. Victims suffered the effects of mustard
gas 30 to 40 years after exposure.
Narcoterrorism:
The view of many counterterrorist experts that there exists an alli-
ance between drug traffickers and political terrorists.
National Pharmaceutical Stockpile:
A stock of vaccines and antidotes stored at the
CDC in Atlanta to be used against biological warfare.
Nerve agent:
The Nazis used the first nerve agents: insecticides developed into
chemical weapons. Some of the better known nerve agents include VX,
sarin, soman, and tabun. These agents are used because only a small quan-
tity is necessary to inflict substantial damage. Nerve agents can be inhaled
or can be absorbed through intact skin.
Nodes:
A facility at which a chemical is produced, store, or consumed.
Nuclear blast:
An explosion of any nuclear material that is accompanied by a pres-
sure wave, intense light and heat, and widespread radioactive fallout which
can contaminate the air, water, and ground surface for miles around the
blast.
Opportunity contaminant:
A contaminant that might be readily available in a par-
ticular area, even though it may not be highly toxic or infectious or easily
dispersed and stable in treated drinking water.
Osama (Usama) bin Laden:
A native of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden was born the
17th of 24 sons of Saudi Arabian builder Mohammed bin Oud bin Laden,
a Yemeni immigrant. Early in his career, he helped the mujahedeen fight
the Soviet Union by recruiting Arabs and building facilities. He hated the
United States, apparently because he viewed the United States as having
desecrated holy ground in Saudi Arabia with their presence during the first
Gulf War. Expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991 and from Sudan in 1996,
he operated terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. His global network al
Qaeda is credited with the attacks on the United States on September 11,
2001, the attack on the USS
Cole
in 2000, and a number of other terrorist
attacks. bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, by a U.S. special
forces military unit.
Pathogen:
Any agent that can cause disease.
Pathways:
The sequence of nodes and links by which a chemical is produced, trans-
ported, and transformed from its initial source to its ultimate consumer.
Plague:
The pneumonic plague, which is more likely to be used in connection with
terrorism, is naturally carried by rodents and fleas but can be aerosolized
and sprayed from crop dusters. A 1970 World Health Organization assess-
ment asserted that, in a worst-case scenario, a dissemination of 50 kg in
an aerosol over a city of 5 million could result in 150,000 cases of pneu-
monic plague, 80,000 to 100,000 of which would require hospitalization
and 36,000 of which would be expected to die.
Political terrorism:
Terrorist acts directed at governments and their agents and
motivated by political goals (i.e., national liberation).
