Chemical weapon

A chemical weapon is a chemical, with a delivery system that can deliver the agent in militarily significant concentrations, the primary effect of which is to injure or kill through poisoning. While explosives and incendiaries are indeed chemical compounds, since their major military effect is through blast or heat, they are not considered chemical weapons.

The production and use of chemical weapons is internationally banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. Historically, the most extensive use of lethal chemical weapons was in the First World War, although they were used sporadically in counterinsurgency, or in the Second World War Japanese campaign against China.

History

While there were proposals, for example, for the use of chemical weapons in the American Civil War, the first large-scale use was in World War I.

Types

Choking gases

• Chlorine
• Phosgene

Blood gases

• Hydrogen cyanide
• Cyanogen chloride

Vesicants

• Sulfur mustard
• Nitrogen mustard

Nerve agents

• Binaries

G-agents

• Tabun (GA)
• Sarin (GB)
• Soman (GD)

Significance in terrorism

• Aum shinryo