The usual syndrome of physical anticholinergic effects are also present, including mydriasis (potentially to the point of temporary blindness), tachycardia, dermal vasodilation, xerostomia and hyperthermia.

[5] The readily-observable symptoms of the anticholinergic toxidrome are famously characterized by the mnemonic "Mad as a hatter, red as a beet, dry as a bone and blind as a bat" (and variations thereof).

[6] Based on data from more than 500 reported cases of accidental atropine overdose and deliberate poisoning, the median lethal oral dose is estimated to be approximately 450 mg (with a shallow probit slope of 1.8).

[7][10] The agent commonly became known as "Buzz" because of this abbreviation and the effects it had on the mental state of the human volunteers intoxicated with it in research studies at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.

[10] As described in retired Army psychiatrist James Ketchum's autobiographical book Chemical Warfare: Secrets Almost Forgotten (2006), work proceeded in 1964 when a general envisioned a scheme to incapacitate an entire trawler with aerosolized BZ; this effort was dubbed Project DORK.

In January 2013, an unidentified U.S. administration official, referring to an undisclosed U.S. State Department cable, claimed that "Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15, a hallucinogenic chemical similar to BZ,[19] was used in Homs".