Riot control agents definition

The definitions and criteria that determine whether a chemical falls within the scope of the CWC or not, leaves a large number of chemicals in the gray area. One example of a group of chemicals that are excluded from the OCAD on the basis of purposes not prohibited under this Convention , is given by the Riot Control Agents . There are other examples, which need to be addressed in the future to determine how they can be regulated by the CWC as these have been seen to be very useful in the verification activities of the OPCW. Efforts are underway to find a way for the inclusion in the OCAD, of chemicals that are relevant to the CWC but are not covered by the schedule list (Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Validation Group (VG)). 

However, unlike the BTWC which prohibits all uses of biological or toxin weapons for hostile purposes or in armed conflict, the CWC has a different treatment in regard to riot control agents where each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare. This is further amplified by the definition in Article II of the CWC of the words purposes not prohibited under this Convention as follows ... 

Chemical Agent - Substance that is intended for use in military operations to kill, seriously injure or incapacitate people because of its physiological effects. Excluded from this definition are riot control agents, herbicides, smoke, and flame. 

The US used herbicides and riot control agents in Vietnam and Laos. To some extent these chemical operations could be seen as -and were argued to be - outside the mainstream of chemical warfare, in so far as the Americans did not employ classical lethal chemical agents. Both at the time and subsequently, the United States and its supporters have been keen to avoid categorising the operations in Vietnam as chemical warfare, claiming at the time that the definition of chemical warfare under international law required that damage be done to the physical person of the enemy and that the use of riot... 

In the early to mid-1960s - the period of growing chemical use in Vietnam - the Army conducted a major ongoing review of its CBW policy. This study, codenamed Mandrake Root, was the most comprehensive study ever made to assess the potential value of chemical and biological weapons in support of land combat and to establish definitive requirements for weapons and protective equipment .Few details about the study have been published. It appears to have been an inter-agency study, comprehensive in scope, but somewhat uncoordinated with no clear sense of direction. This may in part explain the apparent confusion in the Vietnam War, over the extent to which authorisation of the use of riot control agents was delegated (see above). The study led to alterations to the R D requirement . ... 

Article II covers definitions and criteria . The term chemical weapons is to apply to toxic, lethal, super-toxic and harmful chemicals including key precursors, except where they are intended for purposes not prohibited by the Convention as long as the types and quantities involved are consistent with such purposes . It also embraces munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm by releasing toxic chemicals. Further work remains to be done on this article to cover the position of riot control agents, chemicals which, although not toxic in themselves, could be used to increase the effect of chemical munitions, and the definitions relating to binary munitions. 

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