Vesicants are potent blistering agents. The prototype vesicant is sulphur mustard gas, fi rst used in World War I, which still has no effective antidote. We used a mustard gas surrogate 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulphide (CEES) to study the ability of resveratrol (RES) and pterostilbene (PTS), two well-established stilbene antioxidants, ebselen (EB-1), an organoselenium compound, and three EB-1 analogues (EB-2, EB-3, and EB-4) to reduce CEES toxicity in human epidermoid carcinoma cells (A-431). Following a 24-hour incubation of a toxic concentration of CEES (1000 μmol L ) did not decrease cell viability. Treatment with CEES and test antioxidants for 24 h showed that only EB-1 and its analogues EB-2, EB-3, and EB-4 but not the stilbene compounds could rescue the cells from death. EB-1 and EB-4 were the most effective at reducing CEES cytotoxicity and did so in a concentration-dependent manner, while EB-2 and EB-3 demonstrated the least protective effect. In summary, the data described herein indicate that organoselenium antioxidants, especially EB-4, may prove useful as countermeasures to blistering agents.