Biological and Chemical Weapons: Overview (original) (raw)

2009, Global Issues in Context. (online) Draft Copy. This is an overview article originally published in the Gale Global Issues in Context resource center and database, written by K. Lee Lerner in 2009 and updated by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, ca 2009-2018.

This is an overview article originally published in the Gale Global Issues in Context resource center and database, written by K. Lee Lerner in 2009 and updated by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, ca 2009-2018. Biological warfare involves the delivery of toxins or microorganisms for the hostile purpose of inflicting disease on humans, animals, or plants. Biological warfare is as old as civilization. In early forms it involved drawing enemy troops into disease-ridden areas, using animal and plant toxins to poison arrows, spreading disease by polluting the environment (for example, catapulting the bodies of plague victims into enemy territory), or deliberately distributing items contaminated with highly infectious diseases, such as giving out blankets previously used by people infected with smallpox. Biological weapons use payloads that contain microorganisms (or the toxic components of the microorganisms) that can cause infections or exposure. Examples of microorganisms include viruses (such as smallpox, Ebola, influenza), bacteria (such as Bacillus anthracis, and protozoa. The most prominent example of a toxic component is the variety of toxins that are produced and released from bacteria, such as neurotoxins produced by Clostridium. The use of chemical weapons dates back centuries, when early combatants learned that smoke from burning sulfur caused discomfort when it drifted into enemy fortifications. The dawn of modern chemical warfare occurred during World War I (1914- 1918). On 15 April 1915, German forces released about 160 tons of chlorine gas into the wind near the Belgian village of Ypres. The clouds of the gas drifted into Allied forces, killing some 5,000 soldiers. Two days later, another chlorine attack at the same village killed 5,000 more soldiers. During the remainder of World War I, German, French, and British forces used chlorine gas and such chemicals as Mustard Gas and Phosgene with increasing frequency. An estimated 113,000 tons of chemical weapons were used from 1915 to 1918, killing some 92,000 people and injuring over one million people. The horrors of chemical warfare during World War I prompted the drafting of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which banned chemical and biological weapons of warfare. (download to read more)