Chicago, IL, May 22, 1995 - The magnitude and atrocity of the poison gas attack in Tokyo is just starting to become realized by emergency response officials, throughout the world. Many have been living in a state of professional denial about the possibility of such an attack. Most have voiced an opinion, in a variety of ways, that "it can't happen here"...or "it won't happen at all". Many were awakened by a startling realization, yesterday, that it has happened, and could happen again. The "chemical genie" was out of the bottle.

A flurry of official faxes and telephone calls have begun to ask; "What would we do if it happened here?...How do you treat nerve gas poisoning?...What can be done to neutralize it?...How can it be prevented?...Do we have a plan for this". Unfortunately, the answers are not heartening. All to many officials are willing to admit that they do not have a plan, nor the necessary resources, to effectively manage a major poisoning incident like that which occurred in Tokyo.

In fairness, there are a number of U.S. Fire/Police/Paramedic chiefs who are aware of the implications of a terrorist attack or a major accident involving chemical or biological weapons. But, most candidly acknowledge that, during current government downsizing, they don't have the budgetary assets to train personnel or buy equipment that would be necessary to effectively prepare for the threat. Most say that they would hope to be minimally prepared and look to the state or federal government to provide additional means that might be needed. Emergency preparedness experts, however, say that the arrival of supplies and personnel from other agencies might be so delayed as to prove ineffectual to assist those poisoned.

Therein comes the problem, the necessity of planning for obtaining potentially large quantities of antidotes and decontamination agents, without actually purchasing them and storing them for possible use. Some emergency administrators have answered this problem by making prior arrangements to obtain bulk stores of specific antidote agents from local distributors on a 24 hour a day basis. Others plan to obtain drugs from one or more local hospitals. Some have stockpiled at least some drugs on their Hazardous Materials response vehicle. Many others, unfortunately, still haven't addressed the issue at all.

Aside from having the necessary specific antidotes to deal with a chemical or biological emergency, emergency planners, Fire Chiefs, and EMS administrators have expressed their concerns about the necessary training and information required to effectively manage this type of emergency event.

At least one Asst. Fire Chief, from a large metropolitan area, told ENN that he wouldn't have the slightest idea of where to obtain diagnosis and treatment information regarding agents like Sarin or other chemical warfare agents. He said that during the on-set of the disaster in Tokyo that he attempted to look-up Sarin in his USDOT Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Guide, without success. He also said that his local medical control hospital didn't have any information on this topic, but that they felt they could eventually access it, if that were to prove necessary. It wasn't until the Chief was informed that Sarin was similar in chemical make-up to some organophosphate insecticides that he was able access some information that could prove useful.

Another Chief from a large Northeastern city said that normal continuing medical education requirements for EMTs and Paramedics made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to implement any sort of training program regarding "esoteric" types of topics like chemical weapons or terrorism. He candidly told this author that, even though his jurisdiction was near several large population centers, he didn't believe that the threat level was great enough for him to commit his limited training budget to subjects that he believed that his personnel would never need.

Still another emergency responder, from Pennsylvania, sent Internet mail to ENN and commented that the entire issue of terrorism is a "police problem" and that it has nothing to do with Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Further, he said that EMS would never become involved in an incident involving "nerve gases" and that discussion thereof was a "fantasy being perpetrated by the 'right-wing'" to scare emergency responders and the general public. As you can easily see, there would appear to be some divergence of opinion within the emergency community, in regard to the need for planning, education, and preparedness for a chemical attack.

Private and government counter-terrorist(CT) experts, on the other hand, are very clear in their estimates of this threat. Several say that an attack like occurred in Tokyo could happen in the United States tomorrow. They confirm that the technology and chemicals to concoct deadly nerve agents, or to hatch dangerous biological "bugs", are already in the hands of a number of terrorist and extremist organizations. Further, at least one Chicago-based CT analyst says that he is surprised that it has taken this long for a major incident like the Tokyo Subway disaster to occur. Now that it has, he voices his fears that a "dangerous precedent has been set" and that it may happen again. He believes that it may have only been a fear of a U.S. military reprisal that has prevented the use of the chemical weapons prior to this time. He concluded by saying that the Tokyo attack may be only a precursor to other chemical or biological assaults...elsewhere in the world.

In light of these expert assessments, and this new and present danger, a number of emergency agencies have reported that they will now begin a planning and education process. Others still say that they will continue to deny that a threat exists and hope that it will "never happen here". Hopefully, we all live in a place where they believe in preparedness for this horrible possibility.

© Emergencynet NEWS Service, 1995 . All rights reserved. Contact the authors for reprint permission.
Emergency Response & Research Institute
6348 N. Milwaukee Ave., #312 Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 631-ERRI - Voice/Voice Mail
(773) 631-4703 - Fax
(773) 631-3467 - Computer/Modem-EMERGENCY BBS On-line Services

Return to the Haz-Mat Operations Page