Chemical Agent Detector Paper is a type of paper used for detecting the presence of chemical agents, including

nerve agent Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that ...

s, mustard agents, and

blister agent A blister agent (or vesicant), is a chemical compound that causes severe skin, eye and mucosal pain and irritation. They are named for their ability to cause severe chemical burns, resulting in painful water blisters on the bodies of those affe ...

s. The paper typically change color in the presence of a chemical agent. The

U.S. Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

and

first responder A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, disaster, medical emergency, structure fire, crime, or terr ...

s typically use the paper.

M8 Detector Paper

M8 Detector Paper is used to detect the presence of V and G type

s and H type

s. It works by detecting chemical agents from a liquid splash. Each sheet of paper has three separate detection dyes. The yellow color appears when exposed to G nerve agents, the dark green color appears when exposed to V nerve agents, and the red color appears when exposed to H blister agents. The M8 detector paper does not detect agents in the form of aerosols or vapors. The M8 was a Canadian invention, being first standardized in 1963. By 1964 it entered US service as part of the M15A2 Chemical Agent Detector Kit, with about 67,000 of these kits being produced from 1965-1969, with most other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

nations also purchasing the M8.

M9 Detector Tape

M9 Detector Tape or paper is used to detect the presence of

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

(V- and G- types) and

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

(H, HD, HN, and HT) agents. It cannot identify what particular agent it is being exposed to. The tape is typically a dull cream color when not exposed to chemical agents, but will turn red in the presence of chemical agents. The tape is made from

Mylar BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...

, which is the sticky backing, and a red agent detection dye. The detector tape does have false positives, which can be caused by antifreeze, petroleum-based products, and liquid insecticide. The M9 was adopted by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1980, although prior testing showed the dye used in the tape was

mutagen In genetics, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes nucleic acid, genetic material, usually DNA, in an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations can ca ...

ic and possibly

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

ic. Adoption nonetheless proceeded and the Army was able to find a replacement dye that was not mutagenic.

References

Safety equipment Chemical warfare United States Marine Corps equipment Military equipment introduced in the 1960s {{Material-stub