Chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction used to intentionally cause death or injury. What are chemical weapons? What are the types of chemical weapons? What is the most toxic gas? What legislation? Explanations.
The UN Security Council will meet today March 11, 2022 at the request of Russia, which accuses the United States and Ukraine of manufacture biological weapons on Ukrainian territory. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed on Thursday March 10 his concern over Vladimir Putin’s Russian government’s assumption of using chemical weapons in Ukraine reported the Parisian the same day. “Russia has repeatedly spread disinformation about Syria’s repeated use of chemical weapons“, worried the deputy American ambassador Richard Mills during a monthly meeting of the Security Council on the use of chemical weapons in Syria quoted by Le Figaro. In case of war, we are talking about weapons of mass destruction. Among these are distinguished chemical weapons, biological weapons and nuclear weapons. What’s this a chemical weapon? What are the guys chemical weapons? What is the most toxic gas in the world ? What is the legislation on chemical weapons?
Definition: what is a chemical weapon?
“Chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction which designate toxic chemicals (and their components), ammunition and devices designed to release these chemicals, as well as materials specifically designed for the use of these ammunition and devices” explain it Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), “a chemical weapon is a chemical used to intentionally cause death or harm by its toxic properties. Ammunition, devices and other equipment specifically designed to weaponize toxic chemicals also fall under the definition of chemical weapons.“. Toxic chemicals are defined as “any chemical which, by its chemical action on vital processes, can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent damage to humans or animals” according to the OPCW.
What are the types of chemical weapons?
Chemical weapons are classified into 3 categories
►Incapacitating Agents : are not intended to kill or injure and can be used by law enforcement during police operations. It includes, for example, tear gas.
►Toxic Agents divided into 4 main categories:
- Vesicants affect the skin (Mustard gas, Lewisite, Phosgene oxime etc.)
- Nerve or nerve agents affect the way nerves transmit signals to muscles and other nerves. They have the effect of paralyzing all the muscles, including the lungs or the muscles that control them, which leads to death by asphyxiation (lead, pesticides, sarin, VX etc)
- Pulmonary gents affect the lungs and airways (chlorine, phosgene, diphosgene, sulfur mustard gas etc)
- Systemic (or hemotoxic) asphyxiants block cellular respiration and prevent cells from functioning (cyanide compounds, hydrogen sulfide)
► Arsonists which can cause burns.
What is the most toxic gas in the world?
The most dangerous chemical weapons are agents innervatingas the sarin and VX, and the vesicantsas the lewisite and mustard gas.
When were the first chemical weapons used?
Since antiquitythe poisonous weapon has regularly been used against military adversaries (poisons), but it is really the First World War which was a turning point in the extent of the use of this weapon. The use of chemicals as a combat weapon began April 22, 1915 in Ypres. The Germans use for the first time on a large scale a deadly gas: chlorine. “In total, the chemical weapon caused the death of 90,000 people between 1914 and 1918” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What is the Chemical Weapons Convention?
The negotiations of the Conference on Disarmament in 1989 led to the signing, in Paris, of the Convention for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons January 15, 1993. It is the first multilateral treaty that prohibits an entire class of weapons of mass destruction and provides for international verification of their destruction.
Sources:
Chemical WeaponsUnited Nations.
Chemical weapons in historyIRSN.
Fight against chemical weaponsMinistry of Foreign Affairs,
What is a chemical weapon? OPCW
Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW