Canadian based bio/chemwarfare preparedness supply?

[Rhodsey]

Ive prepared my kit for extended power outages / food crisis  And i am attempting to add protection from a chemical/radioactive/bio event. And i would hope that my wife would follow the advice of the authorities (in fact im sure she would) but things dont ALWAYS go as planned.  Hope for the best-Plan for the worst.

 

[Jorkapp]

Ive prepared my kit for extended power outages / food crisis  And i am attempting to add protection from a chemical/radioactive/bio event. And i would hope that my wife would follow the advice of the authorities (in fact im sure she would) but things dont ALWAYS go as planned.  Hope for the best-Plan for the worst.

If we eliminate the terrorism factor (i.e. you won't be attacked with CBRN mechanisms), you are incredibly unlikely to be exposed to a CBRN event. Even with the terrorism factor, the probability is still incredibly low. Any biological or radiological materials are incredibly well packed, and are designed not to breach containment in the event of an accident. Even in the event of a breach, you would have to be in the immediate vicinity of the contamination source to be in any immediate risk. Distance and time are both bigger factors here than your protective equipment. In the time you'd spend getting your gear on, you would have been better off fleeing.

Chemical concerns... I'll give that one to you. Kitchener does have a decent amount of commercial rail traffic through it, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of that was hazardous chemicals. Do remember though, that rail accidents are incredibly rare, and most chemical tanker cars are double-hulled, so though there is the inherent risk of a breach, they do try to minimize it. Again, distance and time are more critical factors here than protective equipment.

Your best bet in all these situations is just to throw on a commercial HEPA filter respirator (they sell them at hardware stores), and either flee or take cover. Once all is said and done, the authorities should have decontamination equipment and medical attention at their disposal. Keep it simple - your wife is more likely to remember "Put this on, get as far away as possible, and get help ASAP" in an emergency rather than "Put this equipment on in this order, use this, rub this on your skin in this fashion, etc".

For what you would pay for the extra equipment, it would be entirely impractical. You're best off keeping it simple, cheap, and practical.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Heres a scenario for those of you who think something like this : http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/package-deal401.htm  is completely useless, Your sitting in your apartment or home in a city (in my case kitchener) Your watching tv or browsing the net or listening to the radio and you hear that a train car container carrying chlorine or some other very deadly liquid/gas has derailed near the city or in the city and is leaking heavily, and the city is being evacuated because of the high likelihood of death. Would it then not be advantageous for you to have the above kit in your possession to help increase your chances of getting out of the city alive?? Or should one just do as some of the other posters have suggested and "kiss your arse goodbye?"

Interesting scenario, but now you have to consider how many different types of filters you will need.

Most of the normal ABC, NBC, and biowarfare filters will trap a lot of nasty stuff in the activated charcoal granules in the filter. BUT MOST WILL NOT STOP CHLORINE!  Chlorine requires a special filter. If you have masks and you anticipate Chlorine then get the right filter!

http://www.survivalblog.com/2006/10/letter_re_gas_masks_fire_and_c.html

What you are proposing is not a simple problem, and there is no simple "one size fits all" solutions.