Chlostridium perfingens, a meat contaminant, can enter open wounds and cause gas gangrene. Toxins kill muscle cells and cause bloating, shock, jaundice and sometimes death. A drop of the nerve gas VX prevents the transmission of nerve signals, causing loss of muscle control, respiratory paralysis and death. As a liquid, it causes itching, burning and inflammation on the skin, followed by swelling of tissues. After a day, small blisters form, which are vulnerable to fatal tissue degeneration and infection.
Inhalation leads to pulmonary edema, in which fluid floods the lungs, causing suffocation.
The U.N. suspects that Iraq has a considerable arsenal of equipment, including Scud or other missiles, that the country could use to launch warheads filled with biological or chemical weapons. 16 Al Hussein warheads filled with botulinum toxin, five filled with anthrax and four filled with aflatoxin. 7,770 pounds of growth media are unaccounted for. These systems, which Iraq had before the Gulf War, are not accounted for now. They can be equipped to deliver chemical or biological weapons.