Unlike nuclear bomb effects which can be only caused by a direct strike there are at least few possible reasons for chemical spill. It can be a transportation accident, industrial leakage as well as one of enemy weapons' effects during a war or a terrorist act.

There is no disaster which so strongly requires planning in advance as chemical or biological contamination. Preparing yourself for fire or earthquake may seem relatively easy; you can even survive taking a hit of a certain amount of radiation without any protection from it at all. However, there are many chemicals which can be so dangerous that it won't be possible to defend oneself from it as well as make an appropriate detection in the first place.

Chemical weapons are manufactured chemical substances purposely produced to incapacitate, harm, or kill people. However, the offensive use of living organisms or their toxic products is not considered chemical but a biological warfare.

Biological weaponry is generally considered to be potentially more dangerous then chemical agents for it much easier to execute and much more difficult to detect. On top of it a chemical attack or industrial accident can only cover a certain area. Depending on it's concentration, weather, landscape and other factors it can last for days or minutes; but most likely will dissipate to safe levels within 48 to 72 hours. While biological weapons can pass their effects from person to person without any noticeable symptoms covering unlimited are.

Prevention

Prevention is the most important part of your common preparation for a chemical or biological impact. The reason is simple: all other aspects of your protection will be extremely difficult to achieve meaning detection, vaccination or further medical treatment. As you will see below the best chance to avoid chemical or biological disaster is not to get in the way while it's happening. In order to do so be aware of industrial environment activity in your neighborhood. It would be a good idea to go through few possible scenarios of technological disaster in your area with your family members. Next thing to do would be trying to avoid public places and large crowds of people as it's the most probable aim for a purposeful attack. It doesn't mean that you have to become paranoid. However, you may want to reconsider constantly spending weekends on stadiums even if you're an avid football fan.

Detection

It is certainly difficult and sometimes barely possible to detect such hidden threat in time. Especially if it applies to biological agents which are capable of causing serious injuries and global spreading.

However, you may still detect it by following signs:

• Few people coughing, choking, gasping for air or suffering from pain in the eyes simultaneously.
• You may feel one of the above symptoms yourself.
• A disaster may appear as something visible (cloud of gas or explosion)

Vaccination

Vaccinations don't apply for chemical attack or industrial accident. However, there are vaccines for at least few major biological weapon agents. Such as “botulism toxin”, “Q fever”, “anthrax”, “tularemia”, “plague” etc. It is believed that more vaccines will be available in the nearest future.

Unfortunately, as of today having yourself vaccinated even against the most common biological agents still remains difficult. Even if we ignore a fair possibility of a new biological weapon being developed it might take as long as 3 years for a vaccine to be developed.