Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 3
Unlike the general concept of chemical poisoning, in which the onset of symptoms is
rapid and the source identifiable, exposure to some chemicals present with a delayed
onset of symptoms. This unique property could contribute to their use as a covert
weapon.
Allowing time to escape may not have an immediate impact (as is commonly seen with
explosive terrorist events)., However, this delayed onset complicates the epidemiology
(figuring out the cause of the problem and source) and makes clinical management more
difficult.
More exposures may occur because there are no warning properties of exposure. In
acute onset toxins, most people will escape when everyone around them develops
symptoms. But if nobody gets ill….nobody realizes they are being poisoned….and
nobody escapes.
For toxins with particularly long latency (delay to onset of symptoms or disease), such as
those chemicals that may cause cancer, the long-term psychological effects may be very
consequential, even in the absence of any physical disease. This is a reasonably good
definition of terror.
Delayed onset toxins may mimic biological agents (particularly non-contagious ones
such as anthrax), both because of the time to symptom development (often measured in
days-weeks) and the somewhat non-specific nature of initial symptoms. This further
complicates the diagnosis.
December 2008 Version 2.0 Page 311