Review of the Department of Defense Research Program on Low-Level Exposures to Chemical Warfare Agents (2005) / Chapter Skim
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· Exposures after planned but inadequate or improper destruction of CWA munitions. In response to those concerns, the DOD Low-Level Chemical Working Group was formed to develop research programs within the DOD Chemical and Biological Defense Program to understand the adverse health effects of low-level exposure to CWAs, to defend against low-level exposure, to prevent unnecessary duplication of research efforts, and to focus and direct scientific investigations to address operational issues.
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to FY 2007 that has been or is to be conducted within the existing framework of the DOD Chemical and Biological Defense Program. Every study proposed under the Research Plan is designed to answer one mandatory question: How do data from this work contribute materially toward a quantitative refinement of the human health risk assessment for low-level CWA exposure?
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The first is to support operational commanders in the field with information for real-time decision making required to accomplish their missions while not unduly jeopardizing the health and performance capability of their forces. The second is to understand and prevent or reduce operationally relevant performance decrements as well as the potential health consequences of low-level exposure that may not manifest immediately but may become evident months or years after the exposure.
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exposure to nerve agents. However, the committee recommends that a small portion of DOD research budget be allocated to some research tasks to rule out the possibility of delayed health effects.
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There is also a need to review data on decrements in task performance related to changes in pupil size under various conditions of ambient light, including the magnitude and durations of these changes. · The committee recommends that studies be undertaken to determine whether miosis is the sole cause of operationally relevant performance decrements in humans after low-dose CWA exposure.
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. · One of the major tasks of the Research Plan is to develop a method to generate consistent vapor atmospheres for GB across a range of relevant concentrations and exposure durations and relate fairly robust historical vapor generation data to modern, validated chamber exposure methodology.
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The committee recommends that DOD strive to develop more sensitive monitors capable of detecting concentrations of CWAs that can cause performance decrements or potential delayed health effects in an operational setting. The committee also recommends that the degree of detection sensitivity required should be driven by an understanding of CWA toxicology -- that is, field-operation detector sensitivity that can identify CWA concentrations that are expected to result in operationally relevant performance decrements or immediate health effects.
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In the absence of such mechanistic information, the committee recommends that studies be conducted to test and validate duration-exposure models. · The committee recommends that the DOD develop and apply appropriate statistical models that include concentration of the agent and duration of exposure as predictor variables along with important covariates that allow for testing various extrapolation methods (e.g., Haber's law and ten Berge's law)
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, the committee recommends that access to recently generated experimental data sets and contact with investigators be sought to develop response probabilities needed in operational risk assessment beyond single values, such as ECt50 (the concentration and time that causes an effect in 50% of subjects)
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The operational relevance of the research in terms of relevant durations of exposure and CWA concentrations must be considered in establishing research priorities. To obtain the information most valuable in protecting military personnel from operationally significant performance decrements or potential delayed adverse health effects after short-term exposure to low concnetrations of CWAs, DOD should ensure that the total database from previous human and animal studies has been fully examined to fill data gaps.
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