Chemical weapons are toxic substances used in warfare or crowd control. Their use is prohibited by the Geneva Protocol and their development and stockpiling is curtailed by the Chemical Weapons Convention. Chemical weapons have been used since ancient times, with more sophisticated and devastating weapons developed in the 20th century. They are classified by programs and effects, with nerve agents being a common example. Chemical warfare is dangerous as it does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and has the potential to contaminate air, water, and soil.
Chemical weapons are chemicals that have toxic properties that can be used in warfare or crowd control. Thanks to the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the use of chemical weapons is prohibited in warfare, although some nations reserve the right to retaliate if they are hit with chemical weapons. Stockpiling of chemical weapons has been curtailed by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which mandates the destruction of such weapons, along with the cessation of chemical weapons development programs.
The history of chemical weapons is ancient, although humans certainly honed them to new heights in the 20th century. However, historical evidence suggests that people have used chemical weapons since at least the 5th century BC, when the Spartans set fire to noxious substances under the walls of the Athenians in an attempt to smother them. Until the 20th century, many chemical weapons were asphyxiants, designed to disable people by suffocating them, while World War I marked the development of more sophisticated and devastating chemical weapons.
Like drugs, chemical weapons are divided into programs. Schedule I chemical weapons have no potential use other than as weapons; nerve agents are an example of such weapons. Schedule II chemicals have potential uses; for example, the precursors of some nerve agents are used for other applications, making it difficult to ban them. Annex III includes chemicals with a range of potential commercial uses, such as chlorine.
People also classify chemical weapons by their effects. Nerve agents disrupt the functioning of the nervous system, causing varying degrees of debilitation. Sarin, V agents such as VX, tabun and many insecticides are nerve agents. Asphyxiants, as you can imagine, cause people to suffocate; some known asphyxiants include phosgene and chlorine. Blistering or blistering weapons cause blisters on the skin, sometimes after a delayed period of time: mustard gas is a classic blistering agent. Many nations have also developed non-lethal chemical weapons designed for use in crowd control, such as tear gas and some mild nerve agents, along with the so-called “Agent 15,” which causes total incapacity for up to three days.
Many people believe that chemical warfare is extremely dangerous because it does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and has the potential to contaminate air, water and soil. Chemical weapons impacts are also not pretty to look at and have historically been abused by a number of nations; Saddam Hussein in Iraq, for example, tested chemical weapons on villages of Iraqi Kurds, causing mass deaths, and Germany famously used chemical agents to kill millions in death camps during World War II. Many people around the world are eager to see a unilateral ban on chemical weapons accompanied by the destruction of all global stockpiles.
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