The problem of chemical warfare
The roots of chemical warfare extend way back into antiquity. Smoke, contaminated drinking water and poisoned arrows have all been employed against enemies, with varying success (5). The considerable potential offered by chemical warfare was recognised early, and led to the development of ever more sophisticated toxicants/warfare agents and more effective means of delivering them.
Technological developments in the run-up to World War I laid the foundation for a dramatic breakthrough in chemical warfare. At the battle of Ypres in Belgium, in 1915, German forces succeeded in impacting a large number of Allied soldiers with lethal concentrations of chlorine gas. The attack marked the transition to chemistry as an agent of mass destruction, and the start of a chemical weapons race in Europe. The following year, the French, British and Russian forces used chemical agents in attacks, employing cyanide. The weapons race continued with undiminished vigour through the interwar years and during and after World War II, with the USA now heading the field.
The combination of today’s weapons technology and medical science has made efficient mass distribution of potent chemical weapons possible. This makes chemical warfare totally at odds with the ideal of selectivity in war – making a distinction between military and non-military interests.
Today, the international Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 27 April 1997, has made chemical weapons illegal (6).