Non-toxic cleaners for terrorist attacks
Traditional chlorine- and lye-based cleaning agents are potentially hazardous and can react with chemical weapons and other materials in the environment to form new toxic substances; military researchers non-toxic, ultra-strength cleaners that could be used in the aftermath of a terrorist attack; the peroxide-based “green” decontaminants are tough enough to get rid of nerve gas, mustard gas, radioactive isotopes, and anthrax
The U.S. military has developed non-toxic, ultra-strength cleaners that could be used in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The peroxide-based “green” decontaminants are tough enough to get rid of nerve gas, mustard gas, radioactive isotopes, and anthrax, report U.S. military scientists in the American Chemistry Society’s Industrial Engineering and Chemistry Research, a bimonthly journal.
USAToday reports that the scientists say they developed “Decon Green” cleaners because chlorine- and lye-based agents are potentially hazardous and can react with chemical weapons and other materials in the environment to form new toxic substances.
The main ingredients in each formula are peroxides, used in household cleaners and whitening toothpaste. To bolster their efficacy, they are mixed with bicarbonates and other non-toxic bases.
“Such solutions can be fashioned which will not freeze at very low temperatures (−32 °C) so that they can be easily deployed in cold weather,” report the scientists at the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
