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WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
THE EVOLVING THREAT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Others pages in this series:
Introduction
What are WMD?
Nuclear Weapons
Atomic History
Biological Weapons
Chemical Weapons
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Prepared by Laura Reed, Security Studies Program, MIT, Cambridge, MA,
USA
Chemical weapons use toxic chemicals to kill, injure or incapacitate
an enemy. Chemical weapons can be produced relatively easily and the
equipment required is widely available. Aside from black market production,
there are roughly 6,000 industrial chemical facilities worldwide where
chemical weapons potentially can be produced or from which the ingredients
to make chemical weapons can be acquired.
Chemical weapons have existed for thousands of years, from the earliest
use of poison arrows, toxic smoke and other deadly tactics in warfare.
The major development came in the early part of the twentieth century,
when new manufacturing techniques and more sophisticated delivery systems
changed the scope of chemical warfare by inflicting devastating casualties
on a massive scale. During World War I, chemical weapons were widely
used on the battlefield, causing as many as 100,000 deaths and over one
million injuries. Over the course of World War II and during the Cold
War, major powers developed enormous arsenals of chemical weapons that
included large quantities of a more lethal variety of so-called nerve
gas. The United States and Russia possess the largest and most lethal
CW stockpiles. Iraq’s use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq
war in the 1980s and the terrorist poison gas attack in the Tokyo underground
railway by the cult Aum Shinrikyo in 1995 provide chilling and relatively
recent examples of the indiscriminate and inhumane effects of these weapons.
Today, 175 nations have signed an international treaty prohibiting
the development, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons. This agreement
reflects a consensus view opposing the use of chemical weapons and commits
states to destroying all existing arsenals. Although behind schedule,
states are slowly undertaking to neutralize and dismantle their declared
CW. Nonetheless, large stockpiles remain, containing over 71,000 metric
tons of extremely toxic chemical agents. In addition, a handful of states
are suspected of maintaining secret CW stockpiles and are believed to
be pursuing ongoing research programs, including: North Korea, Israel,
Iran, China, Syria, and Egypt.
In evaluating the risks posed by chemical weapons, two important dimensions
merit scrutiny. First, many of these agents or precursors have important
commercial uses and are available on the open market from a large number
of production facilities. In addition, it is relatively easy to develop
and store chemical weapons in secrecy. The availability of chemical ingredients
and the potential for undetected clandestine manufacture and storage
make the chemical industry especially vulnerable as a target of terrorism.
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), at least
123 separate chemical facilities operating in the United States are vulnerable
to attacks that could each result in one million civilian casualties.
Despite this threat, however, the chemical industry has largely been
spared intense public scrutiny because there has not been a major chemical
accident since the chemical catastrophe in Bhopal, India in 1984. In
that incident, an accidental explosion at a Union Carbide plant released
chlorine gas that killed roughly 5,000 people and injured thousands more.
Types of Chemical Weapons:
Chemical weapons agents can maim and kill humans in different ways,
depending on their specific toxic effects and how they enter the body.
There is continuing debate over whether chemical weapons should be defined
as a mass casualty weapon because the poisonous effects of chemical weapons--by
inhalation, ingestion or contact with the skin--is more likely to be
limited in scope than a nuclear blast or the spread of germ warfare.
Nonetheless, it is now possible to develop large quantities of highly
toxic chemicals that can be dispersed over great distances in a way that
will kill large populations.
To date, roughly 70 varieties of toxic chemicals have been used or stockpiled
for use in warfare. These chemical agents fall into four major classes
or types:
Choking or Pulmonary agents, such as phosgene, or chlorine gas, attack
lung tissue and cause respiratory distress and asphyxiation.
Blister agents, or vesicants, including mustard gas and Lewisite, cause
blisters on the skin and in the respiratory tract that can result in
death, or long-term debilitating injuries, including respiratory damage
and blindness.
Blood agents, such as cyanide or cyanogen chloride, can kill humans
by interfering with the body’s oxygen supply.
Nerve agents, such as Tabun, Sarin, Soman, and VX are lethal in the
most minute quantities, causing rapid death by incapacitating the body’s
central nervous system.
For a comprehensive listing of the characteristics of known chemical
agents, see the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website which provides
information on characteristics and related resources, including emergency
preparedness, surveillance, and response: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/agentlistchem.asp
Thirteen countries are believed to possess chemical weapons and six
of these states have pledged to eliminate declared stockpiles under a
global chemical weapons ban treaty, known as the Chemical Weapons Convention.
For a comprehensive overview and history of the use of chemical weapons
in warfare and the regulation of dangerous chemical agents, see: http://www.opcw.org
History of Chemical Weapons
In contrast to other WMD, it is notable how little the technology of
chemical warfare has changed over the past half-century. Perhaps the
most significant developments are the increasingly sophisticated manufacturing
facilities available and improved techniques for CW dispersal (generally
using explosives and aerosols). While the most common military delivery
systems include artillery shells, bombs, spray tanks, missiles, rockets,
grenades, and mines, other methods of distribution, such as crop-dusting
aircraft, pesticide foggers, and aerosol sprays have also been developed.
From a technological and military perspective, the most significant
advances in chemical warfare occurred during the two World Wars. Germany
was the first to use chemical weapons on the battlefield during World
War I and, during that conflict, phosgene and sulphur mustard (a blistering
agent) caused some 100,000 deaths and over one million injuries. At the
time, some senior military officials argued that chemical weapons were
a more humane form of killing on the battlefield because of the weapons’ relatively
fast and deadly effects. During World War II, Nazi Germany developed
and manufactured large quantities of newly discovered nerve agents, but
refrained from using them against Allied forces. The Nazis used the insecticide
Zyklon B to kill large numbers of Jews and other victims in concentration
camps during the Holocaust. Widespread public horror over the use of
chemical weaponry as well as fears of retaliation in kind have, at least
some degree, curbed the use of chemical weapons.
The general taboo against the use of chemical weapons in warfare holds
to this day, despite the existence of enormous aging stockpiles. There
are a few notable exceptions that merit attention. Although defined as
an herbicide rather than a chemical weapon, the United States used a
defoliant called Agent Orange during the Vietnam War which contained
the cancer-causing agent, dioxin. In early 1984, a United Nations investigation
team found that Iraq had used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war,
and that at least some of the precursor chemicals and materials for its
CW program had been purchased through legitimate trade channels. In 1987,
Libya used chemical weapons against Chadian troops. In 1988, Iraq carried
out chemical attacks in northern Iraq that killed roughly one hundred
thousand Kurds; since the attacks, thousands more Kurds have developed
skin cancers, degenerative nerve conditions, and birth defects.
Several criminal and terrorist uses of chemical weapons have occurred
over the past several decades, but perhaps the most notable was, as mentioned
above, the development and use of chemical weapons by the Japanese cult
Aum Shinrikyo. In 1995, members of this cult used the nerve agent Sarin
in an attack on the Tokyo subway. Twelve people died and 5,000 were injured.
The Chemical Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention, or CWC, prohibits the development,
production, stockpiling, acquisition, or transfer of chemical weapons.
A remarkable accomplishment, the CWC is the first disarmament agreement
negotiated within a multilateral framework that provides for the elimination
of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction under universally
applied international control. Notably, the treaty not only outlaws the
use of chemical weapons, but commits nations to eliminating existing
stockpiles of these weapons. This work is carried on under the auspices
of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which
oversees verification and inspection efforts. http://www.opcw.org/
The CWC entered into force in April 1997 and now has 175 signatories.
The CWC is unique because it provides for the international verification
of the destruction of these weapons and was negotiated with the active
participation of the global chemical industry, thus ensuring industry’s
ongoing cooperation with the CWC’s industrial verification regime.
The Convention mandates the inspection of industrial facilities to ensure
that toxic chemicals are used exclusively for purposes not prohibited
by the Convention.
Nonetheless, many believe that the threat posed by chemical weapons
has not diminished significantly for three main reasons: a handful of
nations suspected of possessing chemical weapons have refused to sign
on to the treaty (notably, North Korea, Israel, Syria, Taiwan and Egypt);
the vast majority of chemical weapons have not yet been destroyed; and
the widespread availability of the precursors and technologies underlying
chemical weapons. In response to ongoing fears about the spread of chemical
weapons, a group of countries (known as the Australia Group) has established
export controls to regulate chemical precursors and coordinate policies
regarding current industry practices. http://www.australiagroup.net/index_en.htm
Over the past decade, the United States and Russia have undertaken to
destroy their vast, aging stockpiles of chemical weapons. However, the
destruction of chemical weapons requires significant financial resources
and presents enormous operational and technical complexities. The variety
of weapons to be destroyed, daunting technical challenges, program management
issues, and community concerns over public health and environmental risks
have contributed to delayed progress. Over 65,000 tons of deadly chemical
weapons await destruction in Russia and the United States. In the United
States, the demilitarization program is now underway at eight facilities,
but much work remains. As of the end of 2005, the United States had destroyed
just 36 percent of its original stockpile while Russia had destroyed
only about 3 percent of its stockpile. In addition, thousands more chemical
weapons sit in abandoned or uncharted dumps that date back to the Second
World War.
Overall, nations with chemical weapons stockpiles have lagged behind
in destroying them as scheduled by the Chemical Weapons Convention: of
the 70,000 metric tons of declared weapons agents, the Organization for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has verified the destruction
of only 12,000 tons. If the current pace persists, the Convention’s
goal to complete the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles will
not be met by the extended deadline of 2012.
While much remains to be accomplished, the Chemical Weapons Treaty
marks a major milestone in terms of progress toward demilitarization.
At the first review conference on implementing the CWT, leaders assessed
it as follows: “The Chemical Weapons Convention performs a vital
confidence-building role in international society. Reinforced by effective
national legislation, the CWC enables its States parties to satisfy themselves
that others are not seeking to acquire such weapons. The Convention thus
serves a practical goal of enhancing security, a moral goal of eliminating
one of the world’s most cruel and inhumane weapons, and a political
goal of establishing a common forum for reaffirming and strengthening
the global taboo on such weapons.”
Useful Links:
The Arms Control Association (ACA), a nonprofit based in Washington,
DC, provides documents, news analyses, and fact sheets on chemical weapons
issues. http://www.armscontrol.org/subject/cw/
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of the Monterey Institute
of International Studies provides educational information, news updates
(called ChemBio-WMD Terrorism News) and additional links. http://cns.miis.edu/research/cbw/tech.htm
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) maintains an extensive website with
a variety of resources, including updates on the progress of chemical
weapons assistance and state programs. http://www.nti.org
The Center for Defense Information (CDI) offers information on the chemical
weapons convention and technical issues. http://www.cdi.org/issues/cbw/chem.html
For a chronology of the Chemical Weapons Convention, see the Federation
of American Scientists (FAS). http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/cwc/chron.htm
The National Library of Medicine, sponsored by NIH, gives information
and links on classes of chemical weapons, environmental and health effects,
and emergency response. http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/chemicalwarfare.html
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) provides
a variety of resources, including documents and updates on adherence
and verification of the Treaty. http://www.opcw.org
The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Program provides information on the
military features of chemical weapon agents and the status of U.S. efforts
to dismantle its stockpile. http://dtirp.dtra.mil/CBW/References/Agents/AgentsCW.asp
http://dtirp.dtra.mil/CBW/References/progress.asp
For information on the eight U.S. Army installations currently storing
chemical agents and progress of the U.S. chemical demilitarization program,
see the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA). http://www.cma.army.mil/
The Legacy Program of Global Green, an international environmental group
working for the safe and timely cleanup of existing CW stockpiles, maintains
updates on programs to demilitarize stockpiles in the Former Soviet Union
through the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. http://www.globalgreen.org/programs/weapons.html
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