Chemical Warfare Research Paper

This went a long way to creating nationalistic feelings. In the second Battle of Ypres, for example, the Germans tested their new weapon – chlorine gas. The French retreated once the gas was released and this left a huge hole in the Allied line. The Canadians moved to close the hole and defended the line for three days.

During the better part of 1940, part of industrial Denver, CO, was home to a chemical weapon manufacturer for the World War II effort. The manufacturer, The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, continued operations beyond the war, and their waste disposal practices led to the contamination of many natural resources until it finally ceased all activity in 1982. In 1987, RMA was placed in the National Priorities List, a series of US toxic waste sites that would need long-term cleanup to be funded by the federal government’s Superfund initiative.

A country changed forever, with a beginning but possibly no foreseen end. Agent Orange worked its way into the very roots of nature and mankind. “ ...war not just on vegetation but also on the roots and essences of life itself,” as stated by Hitchens in his essay, “The Vietnam Syndrome.” Honestly, I don’t believe that those who decided to spread this chemical ever knew what the immense cost to human life would be, or just how long its effects would last. Generation after generation have felt and seen it’s maliciousness and destruction.

In the Vietnam War, Agent Orange was one of the factors that led to the death of innocent people. The U.S. was arguing that Agent Orange is not a chemical or a biological weapon because it was considered as a herbicide and a defoliant. Americans put forward such a claim in order to justify themselves, and said that their main aim was to destroy plant crops to debar the enemy from cover and they didn’t mean to target human beings. (Schuck, 1987. p.19)

Agent Orange and it’s Affects on Society Did you know that Britain was the first to use defoliants in combat against Southwest Asia according to nytimes.com? At this point a person might ask themselves what is a defoliant? A defoliant is a pesticide used to remove leaves from plants and it was also used as a war tactic in different wars. During the Vietnam war, a defoliant was used called agent orange. They called it Agent Orange because of the color.

Out of the two world wars, World War II is known to be the bloodiest and brutal war. The main reason this is to believed is because to the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the time period where many were persecuted for their beliefs and race. Hitler is who is to blame for the Holocaust, he is the one who organized all the horrific things done to the people who did not fall under his Master Race. Despite the many theories about the purpose of the Holocaust, the real purpose make those who weren’t members of the Master Race fear the Nazi Regime, to force them to obey the Nazi’s without question.

Chemical warfare has been brought up multiple times throughout history. One of the most significant times chemical weapons have been used was during World War I. World War I introduced chemical weaponry to an extreme extent and for harsh purposes. There was a convention created called the Hague Convention which “discussed the issue of using chemicals as weapons” (First). The people within this group foresaw the potential use of chemicals during war, and wanted to try and prevent people being killed by this harsh weapon. There was later a second Hague Convention which added even more restraints to chemical weapons to further deter the use of chemical weapons.

There were a lot of average humans that died during the war and a lot of families were hurt. The most important reasons why the war started was because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, secret treaties were signed, and countries were invaded. It all began on June 28, 1914 with the assassination of

By 1960, the south Vietnamese government requested that the United States conduct trials of these herbicides for use against guerrilla force (Environment). South Vietnam President Diem wanted the herbicide to destroy the rice and food crops of the Viet Cong. At first it would be used for clearing roadsides and railroads until it eventually it was used more to destroy enemy food supplies and crops. Unfortunately, it not only destroyed crops but exposed civilians to the harmful chemicals in the Agent Orange herbicide. These harmful Herbicides were sprayed from UC-123B aircrafts, trucks, and helicopters on spraying missions, and in some cases C-123 cargo planes.

Before the war began, Germany had the largest chemical industry in the world, and during the war, used this to their advantage to make numerous poison gasses, and would launch them in artillery shells deep into Allied trenches, causing chaos and death. The Allies soon followed suit, and began developing their own poison gasses. The stalemate continued, but things were much more dangerous on the battlefield now. Constant gas attacks took place on both sides, killing around 1,000,000 in total. Gas, however, did not have a large effect on the war, and fighting continued as

While chemical or biological weapons are deadly, they aren’t as big of a threat to the citizens of the United States as conventional

50,000 tons of Agent Orange were evenly distributed over 3 million acres in South Vietnam. This dispersed over 500 pounds of deadly dioxin. The military used 27 times more herbicide per unit area than most domestic applications, and the dioxins emitted from this overabundance of herbicide created health concerns and risks for veterans, and their families. Other chemicals with the same effect were used in

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin mainly produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.1 It is not a contagious disease, however the bacteria can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion or through a wound. Botulinum toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum is claimed to be one of the most poisonous substance to human as an estimation of one million people can be killed by using only one gram of crystallized Botulinum toxin.2 It has an effect on human nervous system which then lead to a gradual paralysis that spread from head to whole body, eventually causing a fatal respiratory failure if not treated promptly. Even though botulinum toxin is the first biological toxin that had been licensed for human disease treatment, it is still considered as a threatening biological warfare agent by the experts due to its characteristics of highly lethal in minute amount, easy to manufacture and

CHEMICAL WEAPONS Chemical weapon is a device that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on human beings. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons states: “The term chemical weapon may also be applied to any toxic chemical or its precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Munitions or other delivery devices designed to deliver chemical weapons, whether filled or unfilled, are also considered weapons themselves.” Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993), there is a legally binding, world-wide ban on the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. Not with standing, large stockpiles there of continue to

Biological agents are easy to develop as weapons. They are more lethal than chemical weapons, less expensive and more difficult to detect than nuclear weapons. Biological agents are microorganisms that are found in nature, but there is a possibility to modify these organisms to increase their virulence, make them resistant to current antibiotics or vaccines, or to enhance the ability to be disseminated into the environment. Biological agents are attractive alternative to conventional weapons because of their relatively low costs, their relative accessibility, and the relative ease in which they could be produced, delivered, and avoid detection. Their use, or even threatened use, is potentially capable of producing widespread social disruption.