Chemical Weapons: Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chemical Warfare is not the same as nuclear warfare, or the same as biological warfare. Chemical warfare involves using the deadly properties of chemical substances as weapons.Most weapons used in chemical warfare are considered to be“weapons of mass destruction” or, WMDs, and are not considered to be conventional weapons. Chemical warfare does not depend upon explosive force to neutralize targets; it depends on the chemical properties of a chemical agent weaponized. Defoliants are an example.They are used to kill off vegetation and deny its use of cover by the enemy. “Defoliants can also be used against agriculture and livestock to promote hunger and starvation but with protective equipment, and decontamination measures, the effects of defoliants can be neutralized. (fas.org)

Chemical weapons have been used for thousands of years in the form of poison-tipped spears and arrows, but evidence has been found to suggest the existence of more advanced chemical weapons in ancient and classical times.An example of ancient chemical warfare was during the Stone Age within hunter-gatherer societies in southern Africa. A people known as the San applied poisons obtained from their natural environment to the tip of their arrows. These poisons were in the front of scorpion or snake venom, but it is believed that some plants were also utilized. The arrow was fired into the target of choice, the hunter then tracking the poisoned animal until the toxin caused its death.

Myths in ancient Greece told of Hercules poisoning his arrows with the venom of the Hydra. These are the earliest references to chemical weapons in literature. “Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, allude to poisoned arrows used by both sides in the legendary Trojan War”...

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...nge. The Red Cross in Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to agent orange. (Buckingham)

“The Geneva Protocol, is an International treaty which prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare. Signed into International Law at Geneva on June 17, 1925 and entered into force on February 8, 1928, this treaty states that chemical and biological weapons are "justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world.” (Text)

There have been many accounts of chemical warfare and chemical agents all though history. These weapons are very dangerous and have led to many deaths, birth defects, and destruction of the earth. Wepons are one way chemistry is used, and they make up a darker side of chemistry that has an extensive history; but, this is only one way chemistry has played a part in history.