PROTECTION YOUNG
Samantha Rubinsztejn looks at respiratory protection for children
The Israeli Shmartaf
system for infants.
South Korean children in
respirators during a training exercise.
Drills have increased in preparation for a possible CW attack by North Korea.
Gas mask training for children in Vancouver, Canada in 1943. A mass chemical attack was deemed so great that not just Europeans felt they could be affected.
S
A first responder helps a child to don a respirator.
French gas
mask distribution leaflet from April 1939, four months
©US Army
before the outbreak of World War II.
©RATP archives (Lyon Train Station)
The IDF instruct children in how to wear protective hoods.
©Israeli Home Front Command
Most disaster management plans and CBRN protective equipment products have been designed for adults – and as a top priority for first responder protection. But children require special attention.
pecially tailored guidelines and equipment solutions are necessary to help children and infants survive an unconventional attack, as they are physiologically and anatomically different from adults. For example, children are more predisposed to serious physical
and psychological trauma than adults. During early childhood, the lungs continue to develop.
Then between the ages of 10 and 18 they undergo major growth. Medical studies have demonstrated exposure to air pollution affects child pulmonary development. Hence, children are more vulnerable to toxic agents. A chemical or biological attack may last for a few hours, which is long enough to reach and infect children’s lungs for weeks or even years. It means that children must not stay at or near the affected or infected site. Thus, protective respiratory systems must enable them to escape safely as well. In its 2003 report Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and
Terrorism, the American National Center for Disaster Preparedness advocated more pediatric medical countermeasures to include child antidote dosages and antibiotics in strategic national stockpiles, and also to develop child decontamination units. For children, the prime protective item available on the
market is the gas mask, which is declined into two categories: traditional gas masks and protective hood systems. Traditional gas masks include a protective eyepiece, a covering piece, and a filtering device made of rubber that creates a proper airtight around the face. To provide greater comfort to children (and adults alike), manufacturers focus on the design aesthetic as well as the functionality, with the following features: a voicemitter, a drinking system that filter toxic agents, a panoramic protective eyepiece to provide a complete field of vision, and a system that allows an airflow passage to avoid the accumulation of water vapour.
Protective Hood System sold on eBay.
Confronting reality Nevertheless, this type of equipment does not attract unanimous support within the disaster management community. Based on past experiences and behavioural studies on children, protective respiratory systems are considered to create additional problems. During Operation Desert Storm (1990-1), a three-year-old Israeli child suffocated in his gas mask during an Iraqi Scud-B missile attack, as an adult failed to remove the cap on his breathing canister. Civilian testimonies report that gas masks are uncomfortable,
CBNW 2013/02 69
The ones
©Perry
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