OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Washington, D.C. – The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation called today for the United States to work with other countries to prevent the development and use of new kinds of chemical weapons being made possible by advances in science and technology. In remarks delivered today to a multi-lateral working group of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Netherlands, Alan Pearson, director of the Center’s Biological and Chemical Weapons Program stated that “advances in the life sciences are revealing increasingly powerful and sophisticated means for chemically manipulating human physiology, consciousness, mental function and behavior. There is growing interest among some governments in exploiting these advances to develop incapacitating chemicals for use in both law enforcement and warfare.” The working group is preparing for the Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which prohibits the development, production and use of chemical weapons. The Review Conference will be held in the Hague in April 2008. According to Pearson, the convention clearly prohibits the use of toxic chemicals, including those which cause incapacitation, as a method of warfare. “However,” he says, “it allows toxic chemicals to be used for ‘law enforcement purposes,’ as long as the kinds of chemicals used are consistent with those purposes. Some countries, including the United States, appear to be trying to take advantage of the language on law enforcement to develop a new variety of chemical weapons.” Pearson says government interest in the new incapacitants is not limited to the United States. “Russia, NATO and other countries are also exploring these chemicals. Governments see them as being potentially useful not only for law enforcement operations such as hostage rescue, but also for counter-insurgency and urban warfare operations, and for counter-terrorism operations that skirt the boundary between law enforcement and war.” Many arms control experts are concerned that the increasing interest in incapacitating chemical weapons may make the development and use of such weapons easier for both armed conflict and for purposes of coercion, repression, unjustified violence and social and political oppression. If this were to happen, the threat that chemical weapons will be used to attack both civilians and military troops would grow. “Incapacitating chemical weapons are touted as providing a ‘non-lethal’ means for using force,” says Pearson. “But in truth, as events in Moscow in October 2002 illustrated, the weapons are anything but non-lethal.” Pearson refers to the use of a powerful chemical by Russian special forces to help end a siege by a group of armed Chechens who held over 800 people hostage in the Dubrovka theater. Over 125 hostages died as a result of the effects of this chemical, related to the anesthetic fentanyl, whose exact identity remains unknown. Fentanyl is an opiate used under controlled conditions for surgery and the relief of extreme pain. In his remarks delivered on behalf of the Center, Pearson called on the States Parties to the CWC to “implement the law enforcement provision correctly, both in terms of its scope and applicability and in terms of the types of toxic chemicals that are consistent with law enforcement purposes under the CWC. Equally, States Parties must collectively establish additional measures that will facilitate the objective and accurate application of the treaty and ensure that compliance by States Parties is consistent and transparent.” “Ultimately, countries need to decide whether the rather limited potential benefits of introducing new types of incapacitating chemical weapons for law enforcement purposes are really worth the potentially greater risks and dangers.” Founded in 1980, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation is a leading advocate for prudent measures to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Visit the Center online at http://www.armscontrolcenter.org.