Incapacitating agents Chemical Weapons Convention

The term chemical warfare agents ideally would comprise all toxic chemicals that have been developed, produced, or used in a military context with the intention of utilizing its toxicity to man, animals or plants as its primary weapons characteristic. This definition excludes a considerable number of toxic chemicals used in a military environment, which serve other purposes a case in point is rocket fuel, which is highly toxic, but whose primary purpose is the propulsion of a missile. On the other hand, this definition goes beyond that used in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) according to the CWC s Article II, para. 2 only those chemicals which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals (emphasis added)1 count as chemical warfare agents. 

The problem of incapacitants, or incapacitating agents, is complex. The use of incapacitants in warfare is considered to be prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention even though only a single agent, BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate), and its immediate precursors are included as listed compounds (Schedule 2) in that Treaty. 

Toxic ammunition contains chemical agents which, through their adverse physiological effects, are in use by military or law enforcement organizations to kill, injure, or incapacitate humans. Less powerful agents are used by the public for self-defense. While the use of lethal chemical agents like mustard gas and nerve agents to kill or maim has been banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention (COTC), the use of toxic chemicals as suppressive methods to control or subdue crowds and riots is widespread. 

M. Crowley, Dangerous Ambiguities Regulation of Riot Control Agents and Incapacitants under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project, University of Bradford, Oct 2009. 

See R. F. Bellamy, Medical effects of conventional weapons, World Journal of Surgery, 16, 1992, 888-92, quoted in L. Klotz, M. Furmanski and M. Wheelis, Beware the Siren s Song Why Non-LethaV Incapacitating Chemical Agents Are Lethal, April 2003, available at the Federation of American Scientists website www.fas.org/bwc/papers/sirens song.pdf, last accessed 28 November 2003. 

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