Proliferation in Perspective

The proliferation of chemical and biological weapons involves a spread in the possession of weapons or of the capability to produce them. Like nuclear proliferation, this phenomenon can have a vertical as well as a horizontal dimension - that is, it can involve the development, refinement, or accretion of weapons by the great powers as well as the spread of capabilities to countries outside the orbits of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. It can also imply qualitative as much as quantitative developments, since the use of new agents or combinations of agents or new delivery systems could affect the tactical utility of chemical weapons or their effectiveness as a deterrent. 

Chemical weapons are those weapons capable of disseminating chemical warfare agents, defined by a United Nations report as chemical substances, whether gaseous, liquid, or solid, which might be employed because of their direct toxic effects on man, animals and plants . This definition, unlike that of the United States Department of Defense, 

The proliferation of chemical weapons has aroused concern, largely because they are often bracketed with nuclear and biological weapons and described as weapons of mass destruction. While these are all area weapons, their destructive effects vary enormously on any target area. They also vary among chemical weapons themselves, with mass 

Area affected Time delay before onset of effect Damage to structures Possibility of normal use after attack 

Destruction over an area of 100 km 3-6 months after attack 

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Robinson, Chemical Weapons Proliferation Security Risks , pp.74 7, and Chemical Weapons Proliferation in Perspective , pp.22-4. 

R.M. Gates, Statement included in Hearing on Weapons Proliferation in the New World Order before the Committee on Governmental Affairs United States Senate, 102nd Congress, second session, 15 January 1992, pp.5-15. Harris, Chemical Weapons Proliferation Current Capabilities and Prospects for Control , pp.70-7 Robinson, Chemical Weapons Proliferation in Perspective , p.33. 

Burck and Floweree, International Handbook, pp.583, 586-8, 607 n.48 Robinson, Chemical Weapons Proliferation in Perspective , pp.26-7. Ember, Worldwide Spread of Chemical Arms Receiving Increased Attention , p.l3 Countering The Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat in the Post-Soviet World, report of the Special Inquiry into the chemical and biological threat of the Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives, 102nd Congress, second session, 23 February 1993, p.28. 

Brown NM, Lamartiniere CA. 1995. Xenoestrogens alter mammary gland differentiation and cell proliferation in the rat. Environ Health Perspect 103 708-713. 

Compare B. Roberts, Statement included in Joint Heating...Chemical Warfare Arms Control and Nonproliferation, pp.62-3 with Robinson, The Proliferation Problem in Perspective , p.26. 

Melnick RL (2001) Is peroxisome proliferation an obligatory precmsor step in the carcinogenicity of di(2-ethyUiexyl) phthalate (DEHP) Environ Health Perspect 109 437 142... 

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