The chemistry of war.

It's easy to find the raw materials for making chemical weapons, and they're cheap, which makes them a logical choice for poor as well as rich countries

Chemical weapons have been maiming, disfiguring, and suffocating their victims since World War I. They are spread as a liquid, a vapor, or a gas. They can penetrate shelters, contaminate the air, permeate clothing, and attack the skin and eyes as well as internal organs. They can be made to linger for periods ranging from hours to weeks, turning whole areas into deathtraps. Tiny amounts can kill in seconds.

The deadly chemicals destroy motor functions and cause body-shattering convulsions. They produce skin blisters similar to those that covered the survivors of Hiroshima. They cause blindness and deafness.

Their devastating effects were first seen in Belgium and France. In 1915, for example, a cloud of chlorine gas killed 5,000 French soldiers in the Ypres region and knocked out 10,000 more.

Since then they've been used most widely in the Persian Gulf War between Iran and Iraq. For several years in the 1980s, Iraq sporadically used mustard and nerve gases against Iranian attacks. But, in March 1988 Iraq dropped high-explosive and gas bombs on the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq. The attack killed about 5,000 people and injured twice as many. Iran's War Office called the attack the worst-ever use of chemical weapons against a civilian population. The attack, seen as punishment at political dissidents, took place 24 hours after the area was taken by Iranian forces working with Kurdish rebels.

But despite the horror, there was only mild international protest because of strong anti-Iranian sentiment among Western governments. The lack of reaction was seen by one diplomat as "just an invitation to the next country that finds itself in a military bind to use gas."

Those fears were confirmed a few months later. In September 1988, the U.S. State Department announced Libya had built a factory capable of producing chemical weapons.

Only the former Soviet Union, the United States, and Iraq publicly admitted to h a v i n g chemical weapons in 1988. But American defence analysts estimated then that from 10 to 25 countries may have had them stockpiled.

The Middle East is one of the main hot spots for chemical arms development as Israel and the Arab countries view each other suspiciously. China, South Africa, Afghanistan, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Hungary, and France are also thought to have chemical weapons.

Chemicals have become popular in less wealthy countries: the poor nation's nuclear bomb. Many of the chemicals used to make weapons have legitimate commercial uses and are easily obtained. Any country with a commercial chemical industry has the potential terms of equipment, trained personnel, and raw materials to develop its own chemical weapons, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Any pharmaceutical plant, brewery, or fertilizer factory can make them. Canada, for example, is one of more than a dozen nations where thiodiglycol is produced. It is a versatile chemical used in textile printing, photo developing solutions, and ink for ball-point pens. But it is just one step away from mustard gas.

And chemical weapons can be carried by virtually any means used for conventional explosives including aircraft, rockets, artillery, mortars, and landmines. In fact, a chemical weapon of devastating proportions could be as easy to deliver as a pizza.

While many countries condemn their use as abhorrent, few are ready to give them up. Third World countries accuse East and West of hypocrisy in dealing with the chemical and biological weapons questions. They say banning poor nations from defending themselves with cheap weapons of mass destruction while storing and developing toxins in wealthy countries is unacceptable. And they don't buy Western explanations that chemical and biological toxin stockpiles are needed to produce antidotes.

After the horrors of World War I, chemical warfare was internationally banned by the 1925 Geneva Convention. But the Geneva Protocol says only that a country should not be the first to use chemical weapons; that it can if it is the victim of a chemical attack. It outlaws the use of chemical and biological weapons but does not deny countries the right to have these weapons.

Since 1976 the UN Committee on Disarmament has been trying to hammer out a treaty that would outlaw the manufacture of chemical weapons and, at the same time, make sure no one is cheating. Any treaty banning chemical weapons is worthless unless everyone plays by the rules. Signatories naturally want some guarantees before renouncing their use in war and destroying their munitions.

In 1989 the Soviet government pledged that Moscow would start destroying its stockpile of chemical weapons. And 149 countries at the United Nations conference on chemical warfare in Paris condemned chemical warfare and promised never to use chemical weapons. They also promised to work toward an international agreement to outlaw the use, production, or stockpiling of chemical weapons anywhere in the world.

The conference, inspired by the devastating use of poison gas by Iraq in the Persian Gulf, highlighted the threat posed by chemical weapons. But, still, there was no mention of sanctions or penalties against countries that might use them in the future. There was no condemnation of countries that have used them, nor any attempt to list countries that have them.

Given that chemical weapons are so easy to make and so hard to detect, a worldwide ban would require the creation of an international enforcement agency. This agency would have to have the authority to conduct unannounced on-the-spot searches of almost any industrial and chemical plant in the world.

For the first time, international inspectors were given that power, in 1993, at another UN convention in Paris. Iraq was absent, but delegates from 122 countries agreed to prohibit weapons manufacture, storage, or use.

The treaty imposes tough surveillance on the international chemical industry, allowing inspectors to search "anywhere, anytime" for suspected chemical arms. Signatories will have no right to refuse access to production plants, military bases, or stores. States which do not sign will gradually be barred from importing chemicals with arms potential, including many used in everyday fertilizers, pesticides, and lubricants.

At least 115 countries are expected to sign the convention, which takes effect in 1995 if 65 states ratify it. Under the treaty, states will have 10 years to destroy their chemical weapons. Washington and Moscow, with the world's largest stocks, have an extra five years.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. Discuss the values involved in banning the use of chemical and biological weapons, but not bullets or bayonets.

2. On 22 April 1915, Canadian soldiers were among the first to experience a gas attack in war during the Second battle of Ypres. Assign a team of students to research this battle and write a report for class presentation.

RELATED ARTICLE: FACT FILE

Time Magazine reported in 1995, that terrorist groups could develop chemical, biological, or radiological weapons that could be as devastating as a small nuclear bomb for between $10,000 and $20,000.