1.
What are chemical weapons?
2. Some instances when chemical weapons have been
used
3. What is the Chemical Weapons Convention?
4. What do individual governments have to do after
they sign the CWC?
5. What is the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical weapons?
6. Who are the two biggest chemical rogues?
7. What other states have or are suspected of having
chemical weapons?
8. How are Chemical Weapons destroyed?
9. What is the Danger of Proliferation of Chemical
Weapons?
10.
Conventions, Laws and Agreements relating to chemical warfare
and biological
weapons?
[Back
to top]
1. What are chemical weapons?
About
70 different chemicals have been used or stockpiled as Chemical
Weapons (CW) agents during the 20th century. These chemicals
are in liquid, gas or solid form and blister, choke and affect
the nerves or blood. Chemical warfare agents are generally classified
according to their effect on the organism and can be roughly
grouped as: Nerve Agents, Mustard Agents, Hydrogen Cyanide,
Tear Gases, Arsines, Psychotomimetic Agents, Toxins and Potential
CW Agents.
Under
the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC) chemicals are divided into three
groups, defining their purpose and treatment:
*
Schedule One are those typically used in weapons such as sarin
and mustard gas and tabun;
*
Schedule Two include those that can be used in weapons such
as amiton and BZ;
*
Schedule Three chemicals include the least toxic substances
that can be used for research and the production of medicine,
dyes, textiles, etc.
CW
agents mainly used against people are divided into lethal and
incapacitating categories. A substance is classified as incapacitating
if less than 1/100 of the lethal dose causes incapacitation,
e.g., through nausea or visual problems. The limit between lethal
and incapacitating substances is not absolute but refers to
a statistical average.
Incendiary
agents such as napalm and phosphorus are not considered to be
CW agents since they achieve their effect mainly through thermal
energy. Certain types of smoke ammunition are not classed as
a chemical weapon since the poisonous effect is not the reason
for their use. Plants, micro-organisms, the produced toxins
belong to that class. Pathogenic micro-organisms, mainly viruses
and bacteria, are classed as biological weapons.
*
Chemicals that blister: sulphur mustard, lewisite, nitrogen
mustard, mustard-leweisite, phosgene-oxime.
* Chemicals that affect the nerves: VX, Sarin, Soman, tabun,
novichole agents.
*
Chemicals that cause choking: cholrine, phosgene, diphosgene,
chloropicrin.
* Chemicals that affect the blood: herygem,
cynanide, cynaogen chlorine.
*
Chemicals for riot control: tear agent 2
(SN gas), tear agent 0 (CS gas), psychedelic agent 3 (BZ).
Two
examples:
1.
Mustard is an oily liquid with a garlic-like smell. Mustard
gas was first used as a chemical-warfare agent during WWI, when
it was responsible for about 70% of the million-plus gas casualties.
Both in vapour and in liquid form its effect is to burn any
body-tissue which it touches. Taken into the body, it can act
as a systemic poison deadlier, weight for weight than hydrogen
cyanide. Its burning effects are not normally apparent for some
hours after exposure, whereupon they build up into the hideous
picture of blindness, blistering and lung damage. Its most prominent
use after that war was by Italy in Ethiopia during 1936. During
WWII it was produced by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary,
Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, the USA
and the USSR. It was the CW agent that was stockpiled in by
far the largest quantity on the order of hundreds of thousands
of tons overall but used only by Japan in China. It is probably
still the most heavily stockpiled CW agent today. Its last established
use appears to have been by Egypt intervening in the (North)
Yemeni civil war of the mid-1960s.
2.
Tabun, or ethyl NN-dimethylphosphoramidocyanidate, otherwise
known as GA, is a liquid that evaporates only half as fast as
mustard gas, but is a powerful poison. Even short exposure to
small concentrations of its vapour can result in almost immediate
symptoms, felt first in the eyes (as a persistent contraction
of the pupil) and chest (as a tightness or asthma-like constriction).
If a lethal dosage has been induced, either from inhalation
of the vapour or by absorption of the liquid through the skin,
a characteristic sequence of toxic manifestations ensues, some
of great violence, including running nose, sweating, involuntary
urination and defecation, vomiting, twitching, convulsions,
paralysis and unconsciousness.
[Back
to top]
2.
Some instances of Chemical Weapons use:
* 429 B.C.- Spartans ignite pitch and sulphur to create
toxic fumes in the Peloponnesian War.
*
424 B.C.-
Toxic fumes used in siege of Delium during the Peloponnesian
War.
*
1456- City
of Belgrade defeats invading Turks by igniting rags dipped in
poison to create a toxic cloud.
*
April 24, 1863 - The US War Department issues General
Order 100, proclaiming "the use of poison in any manner, be
it to poison wells, or foods, or arms, is wholly excluded from
modern warfare".
* World War I - the use of chemical agents in WWI caused
an estimated 1,300,000 casualties, including 90,000 deaths.
*
1914 - French begin using tear gas in grenades and Germans
retaliate with tear gas in artillery shells. This was the first
significant use of chemical warfare in WWI.
*
April 22, 1915 - Germans attack the French with chlorine
gas at Ypres, France.
*
September 25, 1915 - First British chemical weapons attack;
chlorine gas is used against Germans at the Battle of Loos.
*
February 26, 1918 - Germans launch the first projectile
attack against US troops with phosgene and chloropicrin shells.
The first major use of gas against American forces.
*
June 1918 - First US use of gas in warfare.
*
June 28, 1918
- The US begins its formal chemical weapons program with the
establishment of the Chemical Warfare Service.
*
1919 - British use Adamsite against the Bolsheviks during
the Russian Civil War.
*
1922 - 1927 -
The Spanish use chemical weapons against the Rif rebels in Spanish
Morocco.
*
1936 - Italy
uses mustard gas against Ethiopians during its invasion of Abyssinia.
*
1942 - Nazis
begin using Zyklon B (hydrocyanic acid) in gas chambers for
the mass murder of concentration camp prisoners.
*
Dec 1943
- A US ship loaded with mustard bombs is attacked by Germans
in the port of Bari, Italy; 83 US troops die in poisoned waters.
*
April 1945
- Germans manufacture and stockpile large amounts of tabun and
sarin nerve gases but do not use them.
*
1962-1970
- US uses treat gas and four types of defoliant, including Agent
Orange, in Vietnam.
*
1963 1967-
Egypt uses chemical weapons (phosgene, mustard) against Yemen.
*
1975- 1983
- Alleged use of Yellow Rain (trichothecene mycotoxins) by Soviet-backed
forces in Laos and Kampuchea. There is evidence to suggest use
of T-2 toxin, but an alternative hypothesis suggests that the
yellow spots labelled Yellow Rain were caused by swarms of defecating
bees.
*
1979 - The US government alleges Soviets use of chemical
weapons in Afghanistan, including Yellow Rain.
*
August, 1983 - Iraq begins using chemical weapons (mustard
gas), Iran-Iraq War.
*
1984 - First ever use of nerve agent tabun on the battlefield,
by Iraq during Iran-Iraq War.
*
1987- 1988
- Iraq uses chemical weapons (hydrogen cyanide, mustard gas)
in its Anfal Campaign against the Kurds, most notably in the
Halabja Massacre of 1988.
*
March 20, 1995 - The Tokyo Subway sarin gas attack killed
nearly a dozen people and incapacitating or injuring approximately
5,000 others. Thousands did not die from the Tokyo attack due
to impure of the agent. A tiny drop of sarin, which was originally
developed in Germany in the 1930s, can kill within minutes after
skin contact or inhalation of its vapour. Like all other nerve
agents, sarin blocks the action of acetylcholinesterase, an
enzyme necessary for the transmission of nerve impulses.
[Back
to top]
3.
What is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)?
The
experience of large-scale chemical warfare was so horrifying
that it led to the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which forbids the use
of chemical and bacteriological agents in war. Images of victims
gasping, frothing and choking to death had a profound impact.
The text of the protocol reflects the global sense of abhorrence.
It affirmed that these weapons had been "justly condemned by
the general opinion of the civilized world."
The
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) reinforces aspects of the
Geneva Conventions that also dealt with these agents and was
negotiated over a period of 24 years. In 1992, after a decade
of long and painstaking negotiations, the Conference on Disarmament
in Geneva agreed to the text of the (CWC), which was adopted
by the General Assembly on 30 November 1992, in its resolution
entitled Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production,
Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction
(A/RES/47/39).
More than 170 countries have signed the CWC, and 139 have ratified
it. The treaty entered into force on April 29, 1997, 180 days
after Hungary, the 65th country, ratified. Countries that ratify
must destroy all chemical weapons over a ten year period with
the treaty providing a "levelling out principle" that ensures
possessors destroy their stockpiles at roughly the same time.
Five
years after entry into force, destruction of 20% of the stockpile
is to be completed. After seven years, 45% of the destruction
should be complete. Under the treaty countries must to stop
any development, production, acquisition, stockpiling and retention
of chemical weapons. The CWC requires States Parties to report
the location of chemical weapons storage sites, the location
and characteristics of chemical weapons production and research
facilities and prohibits trade in certain chemicals with countries
not party to the treaty.
The
verification provisions of the CWC not only affect the military
sector but also the civilian chemical industry, world-wide,
through certain restrictions and obligations regarding the production,
processing and consumption of chemicals that are considered
relevant to the objectives of the Convention. The Convention
also contains provisions on assistance in case a State Party
is attacked or threatened with attack by chemical weapons and
on promoting the trade in chemicals and related equipment among
State Parties.
For
a good article by article summary of the treaty, and a copy
of the whole text go to: http://www.opcw.org
[Back
to top]
4. What do individual governments have to do
after they sign the CWC?
Once
a government has ratified the Convention, it is required to
declare all of its CW facilities (both commercial and public)
within 30 days, and must destroy stockpiles within 10 years
in an environmentally sound manner at its own expense. States
Parties need to ensure that the prohibitions in the treaty are
translated from international law, binding only on states, to
Convention specifically requires States Parties to extend their
obligations to private entities, it remain silent on precisely
how to achieve this.
States
are required to enact penal legislation, prohibiting their private
citizens, no matter where they are on earth, from undertaking
any of the activities prohibited to the state itself by the
Convention. Many states have also enacted laws laying down an
obligation to provide declaration required relating to production,
processing, consumption, import and export of chemicals above
thresholds specified in the Convention.
Another area in which most states have enacted legislation provides
two-year, multiple-entry visa to inspectors who on 48 hours
notification can inspect to clarify and resolve questions of
non-compliance. During inspections they can interview personnel,
request samples and evaluate chemical weapons destruction sites.
They can evaluate a site for up to 84 hours.
[Back
to top]
5. What is the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons?
The
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons came into
existence on 29 April 1997 and is based in The Hague, Netherlands.
The OPCW is made up about 5,000 staff that monitors the destruction
of chemical weapons and of chemical weapons production facilities.
The staff also implements the complex declaration and short
notice challenge inspections under the verification procedures,
undertakes routine inspections and trains inspectors. The staff
are accountable to all signatories and an Executive Council
made up to 41 member states. In May 2000, the Director-General
Mr. JosZ Bustani was confirmed for a second term of four years
starting 13 May 2000.
The
Executive Council:
Elected for two years (2000 Ñ 2002): Austria, Canada, Netherlands,
Spain, Sweden, Chile, Cuba, Panama, Peru, Poland, Russian Federation,
Slovenia, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Algeria, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa.
Elected
for two years (1999 Ñ 2001): France, Germany, Italy, UK, Northern
Ireland, US, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Romania, Ukraine, Bangladesh,
China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon,
CÕte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.
[Back
to top]
6.
Who are the two biggest Chemical Rogues?
Russia
The Russian Federation possesses approximately 40,000 tonnes
of CW agents stored at seven sites. The arsenal consist of the
nerve agents sarin, soman and V-gas, the vesicants lewisite
and mustard, and the choking agent phosgene. Approximately 80%
of the stockpile consists of nerve agents.
As
of 15 April (year?), Russia did not have a comprehensive destruction
act. Although the State Duma unanimously passed such a bill
on 27 December 1996, the Federation Council rejected it the
following month. Nevertheless, plans for CW destruction continue
to be developed. A comprehensive destruction act is needed to
provide the legal basis for destruction, irrespective of RussiaÕs
ratification of the CWC.
Chemical
weapon destruction efforts were hindered by a lack of funding
($3.3 Ñ 5 billion is needed). The most significant assistance
thus far is the US funding for the construction of a pilot CW
destruction facility at Shchuchye (an estimated $600 million).
US destruction aid is closely associated with a continuing joint
evaluation of RussiaÕs two0stage nerve agent destruction technology:
the Russian-US Joint Evaluation Program. It is being conducted
within the framework of the 1990 Bilateral Destruction Agreement
and a 1994 Plan of Work addendum.
The
United States
The US stockpile consists of over 30,000 tonnes of unitary CW
gent and approximately 700 tonnes of binary components. It includes
the nerve agents sarin and VX and the vesicant mustard. They
are stored at the nine locations: Johnston Atoll in the Pacific
Ocean; Edgewood, Maryland; Anniston, Alabama; Blue Grass, Kentucky;
Newport, Indiana; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Pueblo, Colorado; Tooele,
Utah; and Umatilla, Oregon. The cost of destroying the US stockpile
is currently estimated at approximately $12.4 billion. Large-scale
destruction operations began at the Johnston Atoll Chemical
Agent Disposal System (JACADS) in 1990. The second destruction
facility at Tooele, Utah, began operation in August 1996.
Incineration
continues to be the US Army's baseline destruction technology,
but alternative destruction technologies are also being considered
because of the opposition be some parties to incineration. The
US Army is required by law to consider alternative destruction
technologies for the destruction of bulk agent. Three proposals
by private industry plus two developed by the Army have been
evaluated by the National Academy of Sciences.
In addition, the research, development, test and evaluation
inventory comprises approximately 4400 kg, and recovered munitions
and similar Ônon-stockpileÕ items amount to approximately 6100
kg. The programme for items which are not part of the US CW
stockpile deals with recovered chemical munitions, chemical
agent detector kits and miscellaneous chemical material stored
at an estimated 65 sites. The destruction of non-stockpiled
CW material will cost estimated $15.2 billion.
[Back
to top]
7.
Which other States have or are suspected of having Chemical
Weapons?
*
China- ratified the CWC on 25 April 1997; China has declared
possession of former chemicals weapons production facilities;
initial inspections have been conducted.
*
Egypt- has not signed the CWC.
*
Ethiopia- ratified the CWC on 13 May 1996.
*
India- ratified the CWC on 3 September 1996; India publicly
announced itself to be a chemical weapons possessor on 26 June
1997; initial inspections have not been conducted.
*
Iran- ratified the CWC on 3 November 1997, initial inspections
have begun.
*
Iraq- has not signed the CWC.
*
Israel- has signed, but not ratified the CWC.
*
Libya- has not signed the CWC.
*
Myanmar- has signed, but not ratified the CWC.
* North Korea- has not signed CWC.
*
Pakistan- ratified the CWC on 28 October 1997; initial declaration
submitted.
*
South Korea- ratified the CWC on 28 April 1997.
*
Syria- has not signed the CWC.
*
Taiwan- has not signed the CWC.
* Vietnam- has signed but not ratified the CWC.
[Back
to top]
8.
How are Chemical Weapons Destroyed?
Former
Methods of Destruction
Previously
the most common disposal methods for chemical weapons were land
burial, sea dumping, detonation (firing or exploding the munitions)
and open-pit burning. These methods may have been thought to
be quite clever at the time (out of sight, out of mind), but
their danger has since become starkly apparent.
Buried
munitions pose problems environmentally. Once the munitions
begin to corrode and leak, the agents can contaminate the surrounding
soil and even get into water sources. Sea dumping of chemical
munitions is another method of disposal that has caused a number
of problems. Some of these dumping operations have occurred
in relatively shallow water in the Baltic Sea and off the coast
of Japan. In both of these regions, dumped chemical weapons
caused serious problems for the fishing industry. Fishermen
in the Baltic and off the coast of Japan still haul old chemical
weapons up in their nets, and are sometimes exposed to still-active
agents.
Destruction
Methods of Today
There
are two major confirmed technologies for destroying chemical
weapons acceptable under the CWC limits today, incineration
and chemical degradation. However, there are dozens of alternative
technologies, and the number is growing.
Under
the Baseline incineration process, chemical weapons are first
taken to the demilitarization facility, where the chemical agent
is removed from the munitions or bulk containers by automated
equipment. This puts the workers at the demilitarization plant
at a very low risk of contamination.
Chemical
degradation (or chemical neutralization) technologies also take
many different forms. There are a number of chemicals, namely
alkalis and oxidants, which reduce and often negate the toxicity
of chemical agents.
The
Chemical Weapons Destruction Challenge
While
the technologies for destroying chemical weapons do exist, in
practice there are many factors that may come into conflict
when the destruction process is carried out. The issues that
must be considered include the high costs of destruction, safety,
and environmental, legal and political factors.
Although
environmentalist groups have legitimate concerns that the weapons
be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner, weapons experts
generally agree that it is environmentally much more dangerous
for the weapons to remain in storage for the additional years
required to develop alternative methods of destruction.
Safety
must also be carefully considered in the destruction of chemical
weapons. This entails precautions and regulations that protect
not only employees working in the destruction facility, but
also the civilian population surrounding the facility. Highly
sensitive monitoring equipment must be used in order to ensure
there is no leakage of toxic agents.
The
United States claims it has 12,000 tons of chemical agents in
munitions and another 19,000 tons in bulk storage. Russia, the
sole in-heritor of the former Soviet Union's chemical weapon
stockpile, officially reports its stockpile to be 40,000 tons.
These two countries are the only signatories to the CWC that
have admitted to possessing chemical weapons. In 1994, the United
Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) declared that Iraqi
chemical weapons capabilities had been destroyed, leaving Iraq
with no surplus (or any) chemical weapons stocks. A large number
of old and abandoned chemical weapons still exist in a number
of countries. The total amount of chemical weapons and old and
abandoned chemical weapons that must be destroyed worldwide
is daunting. The original 1985 cost estimate for the destruction
of the US chemical weapon stockpile was US $1.7 billion. Today,
the estimated cost of destruction is about US $9 billion and
growing.
[Back
to top]
9. Chemical Weapons Proliferation
One
must also consider the threat of proliferation when it comes
to reducing arsenals. In the case of chemical weapons, the threat
of proliferation is much smaller than that of nuclear or conventional
weapons. This is true for several reasons. First of all, many
of the chemical weapons of today's arsenals are aging and dangerous
to transport. Second, it would be cheaper in most cases for
a country desiring chemical weapons to produce them than to
try to buy them on the illegal arms trade market. Third, the
quantity of chemical weapons needed to pose a significant threat
is large, especially when compared to nuclear weapons. An illegal
transfer of a significant quantity of chemical weapons would
be very difficult to hide. Finally, a country would not want
to import chemical weapons unless it had a sufficient chemical
protection gear and training for its own forces, a costly undertaking.
Unfortunately, virtually every country has the technology to
produce some of the simple agents used during World War I. In
sum, if a country really wants a chemical weapons arsenal, it
would be easier to build one itself rather than to import stocks.
[Back
to top]
10.
Conventions, Laws, and Agreements relating to chemical warfare
and chemical weapons?
*
The Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War
of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological
Methods of Warfare.
*
The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, Convention on
the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling
of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons.
*
The Australian Group: Formed by Australia in 1984 this
30 member group is an informal and voluntary consortium of nations,
founded as a result of chemical weapons use in the Iran-Iraq
War, whose goal is the limitation of chemical and biological
weapons proliferation. Members meet annually to share information
about proliferation dangers and to harmonize national export
controls in an effort to curb the transfer of materials or equipment
that could be used in the creation of chemical or biological
weapons. The group has created lists of both items whose export
should be controlled, as well as "warning" lists of items whose
purchase could be indicative of proliferation activities. With
no formal charter or constitution, the Australia Group works
by consensus.
*
Convention (II) with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War
on Land, The Hague 1899 (see Article 23 (a) of the Annex).
*
Convention (II) with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War
on Land, The Hague 1907 (see Article 23 (a) of the Annex).
Some Conventions relating to Toxic Chemicals and the Environment.
* Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement
of Hazardous Wastes and the Disposal.
* ENMOD, Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any
Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
*
Bamako Convention the Ban of the Import Into Africa and the
Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous
Wastes Within Africa.
*
Convention for the CO-operation in the Protection and Development
of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central
African Region (1981); and Protocol.
*
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985)
and the Corresponding Protocol: Montreal Protocol on Substances
That Deplete the Ozone Layer.
*
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-Based
Sources (1974).
*
Convention on the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against
Pollution (1976) and Protocols (1980, 1982).
*
Agreement for CO-operation in Dealing with Pollution of the
North Sea by Oil and Other Harmful Substances (1983).
*
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary
Air Pollution (1979) and Protocols
Relating to Financing of a European Monitoring Programme,
Reduction of Sulphur Emissions, Nitrogen Oxide Emissions and
Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds.
*
Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1989).
*
Convention on the Protection of the Black
Sea Against Pollution (1992);
and Protocols.
[Back
to top]
Information
for this backgrounder was found on the following websites:
