Biological Warfare

Biological warfare is war waged with deadly chemicals, biological agents, or radioactive materials (CBR). They can be used to kill large amounts of people, destroy food, or just temporarily stun them for a matter of time so troops can come in and torture them or do whatever troops led by an manipulative tyrant who destroys everything. Using CBR, allowed you to kill everything and leave the buildings standing instead of nuclear weapons which destroy everything, put fallout in the air, and have radioactive materials wash into the ground and streams. Using deadly chemicals in war has been going on since the early 1900’s during World War I (1914-1918). Chemicals such as tear gas, chlorine gas, phosgene, and mustard gas. The first 3 are things that irritate the lungs, and mustard gas cause burns. After experimenting with these chemicals, they tried flame throwers but they were ineffective because of their short range. But that later led to napalm. Napalms kind of like gas only longer burning, more thick and it’s stickier and this is a deadly combination. All of this stuff led to the wide use of fire for World War II (1939-1945). By the end of W.W.I, European powers have integrated gas warfare capabilities into their armies artillery. During W.W.II, Germany was working on many different things. Such as nerve gases, the atomic bomb, and Adolf Hitler had scientists work on something to increase longevity. At the end of W.W.II every country knew about the advantages of deadly gases than conventional shoot outs and destructive bombs. Gases such as tear gas have been used in limited wars since W.W.II, such as in the Vietnam War; tear gas is also employed by civilian police forces to stop riots. The more deadly gases such as mustard gas and nerve gas has generally been condemned by most countries. Such weapons do remain in some arsenals, but treaties have gotten rid of them. There is evidence that Iraq used these weapons in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and that allied troops may have been exposed to these gases during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Various chemicals, such as Agent Orange, that alter the metabolism of plant and cause them to die have been employed in modern jungle warfare to reduce the enemy’s cover and let troops march in without the fear of being ambushed. Later it was found that Agent Orange harmed everything that was near it. It killed plants, went into the human’s lungs, and into streams and killed fish. This was very devastating to the ecosystem. The Hague Conference of 1899 made an attempt to outlaw projectiles carrying poison gases; the agreement to this effect lasted only until W.W.I. In Geneva in 1925 a League of Nations protocol against chemical and biological war was signed; it was not, however, ratified by the United States until 1975. The treaty outlaws the first use of such weapons in warfare, but nations generally reserve the right to use them in retaliation. Agreements totally banning chemical warfare have proved difficult to achieve. A treaty totally banning biological warfare was drawn up by the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1971 and approved by the United Nations General Assembly. Some 80 nations signed the Biological Weapons Convention, which the United States ratified in 1974. This treaty is unique because it outlaws a whole class of weapons by most of the world. Its effectiveness, however, is still questionable; progress in genetic engineering has also complicated this issue. At the Bush-Gorbachev summit in June 1990, a treaty was signed providing for both the United States and USSR to reduce stockpiles of chemical weapons. In May 1991, 19 industrial nations--including the United States-commited