Produced by the Monterey Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Updated May 2010

Chemical weapons (CW) are man-made toxic chemicals that have fatal or incapacitating effects. They work in a variety of ways, for example, by damaging the lungs, blistering the skin, or disrupting the nervous system. During World War I, the United States, Canada, and European combatants manufactured, stockpiled, and used CW. Each of these countries claims to have terminated its program. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997, and as of May 2010, has 188 states parties. Under the CWC, states parties must destroy all CW in their possession and all of their CW production facilities, as well as any CW they abandoned in other countries. Six states have declared CW stockpiles: the United States, Russia, India, Albania, Libya, and South Korea. According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), member states declared stockpiles totaling 70,000 metric tons of CW agents in 8,600,000 munitions and containers, and 65 CW production facilities.

CW Destruction inside the Thermal Treatment Facility Canister Handling Area in Albania
www.dtra.mil/newsservices/photo_library/oe/ctr/albania/a-1.cfm

According to the most recent Annual Report from the OPCW, only four of the 65 declared CW production facilities worldwide still require destruction or conversion to non CW-purposes. Also in 2008, an unidentified State Party (widely known to be South Korea) finished its CW destruction in compliance with CWC provisions. By the end of April 2009, India had also destroyed all of its CW arsenal, leaving only three countries still in possession (officially) of a CW arsenal.

In December 2006, OPCW members granted Russia and the United States a five-year extension until 2012 for destroying their CW. However, neither Russia nor the United States is expected to be able to meet the new deadline because of financial and technological challenges. The United States and Russia started with the largest stockpiles: 28,500 metric tons of CW agents in the United States in 1997, 40,000 metric tons in Russia. Russia has already destroyed over 40% of its arsenal, while the United States has eliminated 60%. Should these countries not meet the 2012 deadline, their progress in CW destruction will be reassessed at that time. Through the Global Partnership Program initiated by the G8, Russia is receiving financial assistance for the destruction of its CW arsenal, as well as for dismantlement of other WMD.

China has declared stocks of 350,000 CW munitions abandoned by Japan at numerous sites on Chinese territory during World War II. Japan has a deadline of 2012 for cleaning up the CW. However, given the slow pace of CW disposal efforts and a scandal involving the Japanese company hired to oversee the project, it is doubtful that Japan will meet the deadline. In April 2007, Japan and China finally agreed on the primary facility, the Japan-China Joint Organization for the Destruction of Japanese Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China located in Haerbaling, to carry out the bulk of the CW disposal work. According to the latest reports, as of October 2009, facilities for the destruction of these weapons still need to be constructed. Several other countries have also declared abandoned CW on their territory and in their coastal waters.

States Developing Chemical Weapons

Western intelligence notes that the following states may possess CW programs: Iran, Syria, Egypt, and North Korea. In addition, after the 1991 Gulf War, UN inspectors uncovered a sizeable CW arsenal in Iraq and destroyed all known elements of that arsenal. Nonetheless, the United States relied on Western intelligence suggesting Iraq had an active CW program as one justification for invading that country and toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in March 2003.  Subsequent investigations by the Iraq Survey Group revealed that Iraq had never given up its CW ambitions and had maintained the ability to produce CW (including sulfur mustard and nerve agents). However, Iraq had not resumed production of chemical munitions and probably had no plans to use CW against the U.S.-led invasion. In June 2007, several high-ranking Iraqi officials received death sentences for their role in Iraqi CW attacks against Kurds in the late 1980s, which left tens of thousands of civilians dead.

With the help of foreign suppliers, Libya began an offensive CW program in the 1980s, and rapidly erected three sites for CW production. Under Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi, Libya pursued CW for several reasons, particularly to offset Israel's larger conventional forces and presumed nuclear capabilities, and to bolster its overall military strength. By the mid-1990s, Libya reportedly had the ability to produce CW and a program to acquire ballistic missiles to deliver CW. It had built two of the largest CW production complexes ever constructed in the developing world at Rabta and Tarhuna. On December 19, 2003, Qadhdhafi declared that Libya would abandon its programs to develop WMD and allow international inspectors to tour WMD facilities. Libya became the 159th country to join the Chemical Weapons Convention in January 2004; it declared 23.62 metric tons of mustard agent and about 1,300 metric tons of ingredients for nerve agents stored in the Libyan desert. The United States agreed to help Libya pay the estimated cost of $100 million to eliminate these stockpiles, but Libya repudiated this agreement in June 2007. This decision partially contributed to the lack of progress with Libyan CW destruction. On October 21, 2009 Libya again requested an extension for its CW destruction timetable, which will be reviewed by the OPCW.

Use of CW

After World War I, the best-documented cases of CW use by a state are the following: