Investigation of Long Term Hazards of Chemical Weapon Agents in the Environment of Sardasht Area, Iran

Abstract

The present study aimed to was to investigate the persistence and existence of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and related dissipation products in the environment. The study area is Sardasht district located in the western borderline of Iran and Iraq in which was subjected to attack with chemical weapons in July 1987 during the Iran-Iraq war. Three types of environmental samples including water, soil and native local plant materials were collected and analyzed. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the electron impact ionization mode has been developed for the separation, screening, identification and qualification of chemicals after the sample preparation methods. In order to validate the applied extraction procedures, ethylene glycol was spiked to some of the samples including groundwater, surface soil, grape and alfalfa plants. All the recoveries were in the range of 83.6–107.4% with the relative standard deviations varying from 4.9–12.4% (n = 3) successfully. The initial results revealed that no trace of related compounds or CWAs was detected in the soil and water samples. However, trace amounts of some degradation products of blistering agents like Mustard gas (HD) and Lewisite were found in a tree wood from a house subjected to chemical attack as well as in barley samples (a mixture of leaves and root) collected from an agricultural field in the area indicating chronic low exposure to the environment and people.