This fact one more time proved the use of chemical weapons by Armenians.
Why is the chemical element white phosphorus munitions banned and what are the complications?
Phosphorus is the 15th element of Mendeleyev’s periodic table. There are 3 allotropic modification of phosphorus in nature: White, black and red. White phosphorus is poisonous. When it is heated, it becomes red phosphorus. Red phosphorus is used in the match production together with remains of glass and sulphur. Prohibited bombs containing phosphorus is used because it contains poisonous white phosphorus.
When white phosphorus combines with O2, fire may occur and the degree of heat is more than 1000. The fire is observed together with white smoke and continues until termination of contiguity with phosphorus or oxygen. 0, 05 gram of white phosphorus is enough to kill a person.
This chemical weapon fuses rapidly when it enters human body. The function of gastroenterostomy stops immediately. It also affects the function of heart and circulatory system as well as creates exhaustion and weakness. It is only the influence of smokes of bombs containing phosphorus.
White phosphorus was used in grenades to create smoke, for illumination (a property of phosphorus) or incendiary to induce fires and burning. In this regard, the use of phosphorus munitions aims to remove the manpower of the enemy side from the military object where they hide.
White phosphorus skin exposure results in painful chemical burn injuries. The resultant burn typically appears as a necrotic area with a yellowish color and characteristic garliclike odor. These burns carry a high risk of morbidity and mortality. White phosphorus is highly lipid soluble and, as such, is believed to have rapid dermal penetration once particles are embedded under the skin. This deep absorption can result in heart, liver, and kidney damage. It has also been postulated that, because of its enhanced lipid solubility, these injuries result in delayed wound healing. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to save the people got wounded from the white phosphorus bombs. White Phosphorus burns cause skin to melt away from the bone.
Due to its toxicity, white phosphorus was subsequently banned from the production of matches by a number of European countries towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The first treaty to deal with weapons was the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868. Building on the 1899 Declaration and the experience of the First World War, the Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925 prohibits ‘the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and of all analogous liquids materials or devices’ and extends this prohibition to the use of bacteriological methods of warfare.
Gunel Babayeva
