Toxicology of mustard gas

The devastating effects of mustard gas were first observed in World War I. The advent of the Gulf War fueled renewed fears of further use of toxic gases in battle, with the possible exposure of large civilian populations - while understanding of the mechanism of action of the alkylating sulfur mustards was still quite restricted. In this article Uri Wormser discusses the structure-activity studies that are available, and the limited pharmacological measures that can be taken to protect against mustard gas attack. In addition to systematically administered sulfhydryl agents, new percutaneous preparations are being developed in the author's laboratory which offer better protection than is possible with simple adsorbant powders.