to obtain the full paper or to first obtain an abstract. Citations were entered into the study's bibliographic database, which at the conclusion of the study contained 2,124 references to abstracts, journal articles, books, military and civilian reports, dissertations, and conference proceedings relating to the health effects of mustard gas and Lewisite.

In addition to the published scientific literature, essential supplemental information was made available to the committee through military and technical reports and also through archival research. Retrieving technical and military documents involved searching archival records of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), requesting access to military documents, and ordering technical reports from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).

WWII civilian research was coordinated through the OSRD, and two of its divisions conducted chemical warfare agent research, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) and the Committee on Medical Research (CMR). Within NDRC it was Division 9 (Chemistry) that was responsible for overseeing this research, and Division 9 records are stored in Series 29, Record Group 227, Civil Reference Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. The records of the CMR's Committee on Treatment of Gas Casualties, the subcommittee involved in chemical warfare agent research, are housed in the National Research Council Archives and are also available in Series 29, Record Group 227 at the National Archives.

Military reports were also obtained to supplement the journal literature. Reports obtained from the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, D.C.) provided background information on WWII test conditions and protocols. Chemical Warfare Service administrative records and correspondence were retrieved from Record Group 175, Suitland Reference Branch of the National Archives, Suitland, Maryland. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests were sent to the U.S. Army Chemical Research Development and Engineering Command (Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland), U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (Dugway, Utah), and Naval Training Center (Great Lakes, Illinois). The Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland) was also contacted. Reports on field tests involving sulfur