File talk:WMD-chemical.svg

Dead link
The page on the AMEDDC&S Battle Simulation Center web site no longer exists on that server, even though it is still listed on the site map. JamesEG (talk) 18:46, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The story is :

"A few years ago, there had been three variations of the chemical hazard symbol in use. One was a picture of a death's head, or skull and crossbones.  The other was a beaker.  The last was a pair of beakers with their necks crossed.

"When NBC CTS was first created, it bothered us not only that the chemical symbols differed so greatly in design from the nuclear hazard and biological hazard symbols, but also that there was more than one standard in use. It was for this reason that we constructed our own chemical hazard symbol, as seen above.  It has an atom-like look to it, which is appropriate for chemicals.

"Soon, the NBC Defense Officer at the Army Office of the Surgeon General had adopted the symbol as the standard. Now, throughout the Army, the new chemical hazard symbol can be seen in use from OTSG slide presentations to NBC manual covers.

"The symbol is available for your own use on the downloads page. We only ask that you use the symbol in the spirit it is intended - as a chemical hazard symbol - to avoid diluting its meaning."

http://web.archive.org/web/20060828005330/http://www.cs.amedd.army.mil/simcenter/chemical_symbol_story.htm

Of course the statement shows some ignorance ... the other symbols were not "beakers" but crossed retorts. This is not a widely accepted symbol for chemical weapons.

--Reid Kirby (talk) 23:29, 18 April 2009 (UTC)