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 or animals. 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?

188 countries have ratified the convention, as of April 2010
The only countries not to have ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention are: Angola, DPRK, Egypt, Israel, Burma, Somalia, and Syria.

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?

The implementation of the CWC is overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) based in The Hague. The UK has been represented on the Executive 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 4,161inspections have taken place worldwide (as of December 2010)’.

‘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 Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is responsible for implementation of the CWC in the uK and our dependencies and overseas territories.

It oversees all Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspections in the UK - there have been 113 routine inspections of UK industrial and defence sites as of April 2010.

DECC also funds the UK's share of the OPCW.

Chemical weapons