Prohibition of CWs

Key WOrds Chemical Weapons (CW), CW Convention (CWC), CW Production Facilities (CWPF), CW destruction, CWPF destruction conversion, CW nonproduction, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), First Review Conference, Chemical terrorism. ... 

An interesting example deals with the identification of organophosphorus compounds in soil samples [13]. Such compounds can occur as degradation products of chemical weapons (CWs) in soil and other matrices. The convention for the prohibition of chemical weapons sets up procedures for the... 

These compounds were not found in the wines studied. Nonetheless, some were detected in a grape marc spirit with a clear reducing defect in which we detected the presence of cw-/fran -3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-trithiolane and cw-/fran.y-3,6-dimethyl-1,2,4,5-tetrathiane, although neither di-/fran.y-4,7-dimethyl-1,2,3,5,6-pentatiepane nor 1,1-ethanedithiol were detected. These compounds could possibly come from the base wine used for the distillation, although it is prohibited to use SO2 in wines used for this purpose. The hypothesis according to which ethanal is free to react with H2S is, therefore, reinforced. 

In summary then, public opinion regarding chemical warfare seems to have been formed in the years following WWI. It was markedly influenced by propaganda regarding the peculiar unpleasantness of this type of warfare, spread both by those anxious to build up a national CW capability and those anxious to achieve a prohibition of the future use of chemical weapons. Although others argued in favour of chemical warfare, they seem to have had little influence and public opinion remains against these weapons. 

The widespread CW use during the war prompted efforts to control the availability of this type of armament. Most notably, in 1925 the Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War negotiated the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases,... 

The SAB stressed the importance that all new toxic chemicals, no matter what their origin or method of synthesis, are covered by the Convention s definition of CW, unless they were intended for purposes not prohibited by it, and only as long as their types and quantities would be consistent with these purposes. The SAB... 

Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). A multi-lateral treaty that bans the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, and direct or indirect transfer of chemical weapons. It also prohibits the use or preparation for use of CW and the assistance, encouragement, or inducement of anyone else to engage in activities prohibited by the treaty. It further requires participating states to destroy existing chemical weapons and any CW production facilities. 

In terms of prohibiting CW and their use, which is the major purpose of the CWC, any recovery of CW from dumping sites and their respective destruction within 10 years (as required under the Verification Annex, Part IV (A)) would add nothing to the security of State Parties. The necessity of such operations in terms of ecological security is a different matter, and this was intentionally kept outside the scope of the Convention. ... 

CD/CW/WP.78 (2 April 1984). See also Soviet Union, Basic Provisions of a Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction , CD/294 (21 July 1982). 

Nonetheless, the War Department General Staff took a defensive position toward gas warfare throughout most of this period—defensive both in the attitude with which it approached the subject and in the type of warfare upon which it concentrated. In 1922 it suspended work on toxic agents and restricted other CWS efforts to defensive measures. Although this restrained approach was frequently reaffirmed in the 1920 s and 1930 s, modifications in the War Department prohibition of research on toxic gases allowed some work in this field—one had to know the offensive potential of an agent in order to defend against it. 

The First Review Conference reviewed progress in relation to the destruction of chemical weapons production facilities, and noted with satisfaction that the elimination of CW production capabihties has progressed as required by Part V of the Verification Annex. The conversion of former chemical weapons production facihties for purposes not prohibited is permitted by the Convention, in exceptional cases of compelling need. 

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