The chemical and biological weapons can be far more dangerous and suicidal for the lives of millions of people than nuclear weapons. The chemical and biological weapons stand in a class of their own, as they exercise their effect solely on living matter. The idea that bacteriological weapons could deliberately be used to spread diseases generated a sense of horror.
The potential for developing an armory of chemical and bacteriological weapons has grown considerably in recent years; these weapons leave a lasting impact on humanity.
Were these weapons ever to be used in a war no one could predict how enduring the effects would be and how they would affect the structure of society and the environment in which we live.
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This overriding danger would apply as much to the country which initiated the use of these weapons as to the one which has been attacked, regardless of what protective measures it might have taken.
Already the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibits the member nations from resorting to the use of chemical and biological weapons. Notwithstanding the Geneva Protocol, the United States of America made a very extensive use of herbicides during the conflict in Vietnam.
Millions of tons of herbicides were used, and it has been estimated that a major portion of the Vietnamese land would be unfit for any production for many years to come. President Bush and Gorbachev could not reach any agreement on the chemical weapons during their Summit in December 1989.
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President Bush announced a unilateral US decision not to manufacture or deploy chemical weapons. Iraq was suspected of possessing chemical weapons and these were used against the Kurds in 1991 and 1996. An agreement to ban chemical weapons was reached in 1994, though the United States had considerable hesitation in endorsing the same.
All stockpiles are to be destroyed. A treaty to ban biological weapons was signed in July 2001 by a majority of the states. The United States once again refused to endorse the treaty. It is now realised that the biological weapons can exterminate the world. The US attitude is belligerent; it had in July 01 also refused to sign a Treaty banning the sale and delivery of small arms.
