Ricin prohibition

Despite ricin s extreme toxicity and utility as an agent of chemical/biological warfare, it is extremely difficult to limit the production of the toxin. Therefore, ricin is currently monitored as a Schedule 1 toxic chemical under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,... 

Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC), and the international use of ricin or abrin as weapons is prohibited under the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) Procedural Report and Rolling Text Ad Hoc Group 23rd session (April 23-May 11, 2001). 

The mid-spectrum region between chemical and biological agents includes substances such as bioregulators and toxins. These are all chemicals and almost all are not included in the Schedules - the two that are listed in Schedule 1 are ricin and saxitoxin. These mid-spectrum materials can now be readily produced in quantity -and for prohibited purposes, impurities are not a problem. The challenge to the Convention posed by such materials is further increased by the recent advances in drug-delivery techniques. 

The CWC has a wide scope, defining chemical weapons as munitions or other devices, specifically designed to cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals (but not plants). It thereby encompasses past, known and possible chemical warfare agents, including toxins such as ricin and saxitoxin, and refers, in its preamble, to the principles of international law which prohibit the use of herbicides as a method of warfare. It divides these chemicals and many of their precursors into three categories known as schedules. In Schedule 1, it effectively bans 12 groups of chemicals from manufacturing industry and commerce,... 

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