Chemical warfare

DEFINITION: Use of toxic chemical substances to increase military and civilian casualties or to make habitat conditions unsuitable for military use by opponents during war.

SIGNIFICANCE: Following the widespread use of chemical weapons during World War I, a number of countries tested and maintained stocks of such weapons as supplements to their stockpiles of more traditional military weapons. This work produced new chemical warfare agents as well as increasingly sophisticated ways to deliver and disseminate them, which led in turn to the development of better means of early detection of these agents and prevention of their spread. Forensic science is concerned with detecting and tracing specific chemicals used in the manufacture of chemical weapons, locating facilities that manufacture and store chemical weapons, and identifying nations with military programs that include chemical weapons in their arsenals.

Rudimentary forms of chemical warfare were utilized as early as the twelfth century BCE. Poisons of different kinds were used to destroy livestock and armies’ food supplies, with varying degrees of success, through the centuries. New World versions of chemical warfare measures include the arming of arrows, darts, and spears with batrachotoxins extracted from the poison dart frog in the tropics of Latin America. Modern chemical warfare was introduced during the early years of World War I, when French chemists loaded tear gas into small, hand-thrown bombs to be used by French troops to drive German soldiers out of their trenches. In response, German chemists manufactured chlorine gas, which was released from canisters downwind of the Russian army on the eastern front, marking the first time that lethal chemical weapons were used on a massive scale by any army. France responded with phosgene gas loaded in artillery shells, and before the end of the war all the major combatants were using chemical weapons. Gas masks became standard issue for soldiers of all sides on all fronts.

Starting during World War I (1914–1918), many countries have experimented with and stockpiled chemical weapons, and some have promoted chemical warfare, either openly or secretly. Modern chemical warfare involves the production of several types of chemical weapons, which may be classified according to their form (fluids, vapors, gases, or powders) or their persistence (that is, the length of time they maintain their toxic properties after dissemination). Chemical weapons can be further categorized based on how they affect human beings. Some recognized classes include lachrymatory (tear-causing) agents, such as chlorine gas and tear gas; nerve gases, such as sarin, which disrupt the nervous system; cyanides, which poison the digestive system; and agents containing acids that damage the skin or respiratory system.

When chemical substances are the cause of military and civilian casualties in war, specially trained forensic scientists are often called upon to collect and test evidence to determine the substances involved. Such scientists are trained in the detection of the chemicals used in weapons and in locating the sites where such weapons are manufactured. Their first objective is to collect chemical samples from corpses and from the scenes where the chemicals were deployed so that they can conduct tests to determine precisely what chemicals are present. Most substances used in chemical weapons have origin signatures or contain toxins that must be manufactured using specific types of equipment and techniques. By pinpointing the chemicals used, investigators may be able track the weapons from the chemicals’ points of origin to the sites where the weapons were manufactured and to any storage locations. The evidence collected in this manner may aid in the investigation of war crimes and may be presented in national and international courts of law when accused perpetrators face trial.

In 1925, the Geneva Protocol was put into place, attempting to ban the use of chemical weapons on a global scale. Unlike World War I, World War II (1939–1945), which killed more than 70 million people and involved most of the world's leading military powers, including Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and China, did not see frequent chemical weapon use on the battlefield. However, the Japanese military attracted widespread criticism for its use of chemical weapons, as well as biological weapons, during its campaigns in China. Additionally, Nazi Germany used a toxic chemical known as Zyklon B to murder millions of people, including Jews, Roma, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others in concentration camps during the Holocaust.

While the Geneva Protocol remained in effect, by the time of the Cold War, which lasted from the late 1940s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it became evident that the Geneva Protocol failed to limit the number of chemical weapons a nation may possess. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) went into effect in 1997, providing stricter international protocols enforced by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Meanwhile, certain chemical agents, such as tear gas, remained in common use by police departments and other agencies around the world.

By the early 2020s, 98 percent of all nations were members of the CWC. Some countries had also made progress in efforts to dismantle their own chemical weapon stockpiles. For example, eight nations admitted to having chemical weapon stockpiles in 1997, but all eventually destroyed their stockpiles. The United States was the last of the eight to comply, completing destruction of its chemical weapon stockpiles in September 2023.

Yet, despite widespread prohibitions on chemical weapons use, the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries saw numerous instances of confirmed and alleged use of chemical weapons. Some of these incidents, such as the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attacks in Japan, were carried out by terrorist groups. However, at times, governments were accused of using such weapons, often in violation of international law. The government of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who ruled the country from 1979 until he was overthrown in 2003 following the US invasion, used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) as well as against Kurdish Iraqi civilians in 1988. During the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2012, the government of Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, including chlorine, sarin, and mustard gasses, against civilians.

White phosphorus, an incendiary weapon derived from the chemical phosphorus, was first weaponized during World War I and saw continued use during the first decades of the twenty-first century. While the compound was not illegal under international law and technically was not considered a chemical weapon under CWC guidelines, its use was heavily restricted and intended only for use in specific situations against military targets. The Russian military was accused of using white phosphorus during its invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, although Russian officials either denied its use or accused Ukrainian forces of using the compound. During the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, which began in October of that year following a series of Hamas attacks on Israel that included the massacre and kidnapping of Israeli civilians, the Israeli military was accused of using white phosphorus against targets in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Since some of these alleged white phosphorus strikes occurred near civilian areas and were allegedly responsible for injuring civilians, some Lebanese and Palestinian officials, as well as non-governmental human rights groups, accused Israel of war crimes; Israel, in turn, denied using white phosphorus, which it had used during the earlier 2008–2009 war in Gaza but had planned to mostly phase out starting in 2013.

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