Further studies of the efficacy of military, commercial and novel skin decontaminants against the chemical warfare agents sulphur mustard, soman and VX

Background/Aims: Following an incident involving toxic chemicals, deployment of countermeasures before the arrival of specialised services at the scene may provide a “therapeutic” window in which to mitigate skin absorption. Methods: Five potential candidates (itaconic acid, N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide, 2-trifluoromethylacrylic acid, fuller's earth and Fast-Act®) previously found effective against a simulant (methyl salicylate) were evaluated against a 10 μL droplet of ¹⁴C-sulphur mustard (HD), soman (GD) or VX applied to the surface of porcine skin mounted on static skin diffusion cells. Results: All the decontaminants applied to the skin 5 min post exposure achieved a marked reduction in the amount of ¹⁴C contaminant remaining within the skin at 24 h. Itaconic acid significantly (p <.05) reduced the amount of ¹⁴C-HD, GD and VX remaining in the skin at 24 h. Additionally, 2-trifluoromethylacrylic acid significantly reduced the amount of ¹⁴C-HD, whilst fuller's earth significantly reduced the amounts of ¹⁴C-HD and VX recovered within the skin at 24 h. Conclusion: All of the products evaluated in this study performed well in reducing the dermal absorption of all the chemical warfare agents tested.