Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 42
Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism:
TICs & TIMs
July 1995
Bosniaks fleeing Srebrenica during the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina .
“Survivors gave consistent descriptions of mortar shells that pro duced a
‘strange smoke ’ of various colors which did not rise but spread out
slowly. Following these attacks, some of the marchers - the numbers
are unclear - began to hallucinate and behave in an irrational manner,
Human Rights Watch
with some even killing their friends or themselves. . . . ”
BZ: 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB)
Hay A. Surviving the impossible: the long march from Srebrenica. An in vestigation of
the possible use of chemical warfare agents. Med Confl Surviv 1998;14:120 -55.
Module Two - The Clinical Neurotoxicology of Chemical Terrorism
42
BZ is a chemical warfare agent with anticholinergic features, which has been
weaponized by the military for possible battlefield use. Its use was implicated in the
activities described above during the Bosnian exodus from Srebrenica in 1995. People
exposed to BZ would be expected to develop an alteration in their mental status and
exhibit hallucinations and act “mad.”
BZ’s official chemical name is 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate. Generally referred to as BZ, this
chemical is also an anticholinergic agent. Exposure to BZ would result in anticholinergic
effects such as those described in the previous slides.
While BZ would not serve as a lethal weapon, the delirium that would result would
render the adversary confused and disoriented and quite ineffectual to fight back.
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