The UK is helping to enforce and strengthen the ban on chemical and biological weapons through international treaties and conventions. 

Chemical weapons

Chemical weapons include all toxic chemicals, their precursors, munitions and devices designed to cause death, harm, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation to humans, animals or plants. They include:

• choking agents, such as Chlorine and Phosgene - they are dispersed as a gas and absorbed through the lungs
• blister agents, such as Mustard can be simple to manufacture – they severely damage the eyes, respiratory system, internal organs and burn the skin
• blood agents, such as Hydrogen Cyanide are dispersed as gases and absorbed through the lungs - they affect the ability of blood cells to use oxygen, eventually starving and stopping the heart
• nerve agents, such as Sarin are relatively simple to manufacture, easy to disperse and highly toxic - one drop can cause death.

Banning chemical weapons

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans the development, production, stockpiling and the use of chemical weapons. It means all existing stockpiles have to be destroyed by 2012.

Who has ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention?

• 183 countries including the USA, Russia, India, Pakistan, China, Iran and Libya (as of Nov 2007)
• all EU member states.

We especially encourage countries with large chemical industries and countries in regions of tension to join the Convention.

What must countries do?

• declare their past chemical weapons activities
• submit regular declarations about the production, processing and consumption of certain dual-use chemicals
• allow Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors to carry out routine inspections.

How is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) enforced?

It is vital that countries who join the Convention continue to fully implement its terms.

The implementation of the CWC is overseen by the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague.

The UK has been represented on the Council of the OPCW from the start because of our large chemical industry.

The OPCW has made an effective start to implement a rigorous verification and inspection regime. Over 2,900 inspections have taken place worldwide (as of May 2007).

‘Challenge Inspections’ can also be made if there are strong grounds to suspect a country’s declaration is inaccurate or incomplete. This has not yet been required.

Implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in the UK

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is responsible for implementation the CWC in the UK and our dependencies and overseas territories.

They oversee all Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspections in the UK - there have been 87 inspections of UK industrial and defence sites as of May 2007.

BERR also funds the UK’s share of the OPCW.

Biological weapons

Biological weapons use disease-producing micro-organisms (bacteria or viruses) or other pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms and toxins found in nature to kill or cause disease in humans, animals or plants.

Many biological agents are relatively easy to manufacture and highly infective – this makes them very dangerous weapons.

Biological weapons are banned

The use of biological weapons was banned in international law by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. This was extended by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) in 1975.

The BTWC bans the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition or retention of biological and toxin weapons.

• 161 countries have joined/ratified the Convention
• 34 countries have either not signed or ratified the Convention.

How is the UK enforcing the ban on biological weapons?

Unlike the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) doesn’t have the means, such as inspections, to check if countries are complying.

The UK has been at the forefront of efforts to strengthen the BTWC:

• a 2002 Green Paper set out a range of practical measures to strengthen the Convention
• the UK has chaired and hosted meetings with government and non-government scientists to develop codes of conduct for scientists
• the UK has actively participated in review conferences and annual BTWC work programmes to enhance and strengthen the implementation of the Convention.

Confidence Building Measures

All member countries of the  Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)  should complete 'Confidence Building Measure' reports and submit forms to the United Nations each April. Measures include:

• exchange of data on research centres and laboratories capable of handling dangerous biological agents
• declare national biological defence research and development programs and facilities
• report unusual outbreaks of infectious diseases caused by toxins
• encourage the publication of biological research related to the Convention
• promote contacts between relevant scientists, experts and facilities
• declare legislation, regulations, exports and/or imports in accordance with the Convention
• declare vaccine production facilities licensed to protect humans
• declare past activities in offensive and defensive biological research and development programmes.

The UK takes its confidence building measures very seriously.

Contact us

The FCO Counter Proliferation Department's Chemical and Biological Weapons Section can be contacted by email: BTWC@fco.gov.uk