Dr. Sudershan Kumar
The recent attack by Syrian army at civilian population on 4th April, 2017 which drew international outrage and condemnation was found to be a chemical attack. The Syrian military was accused of using sarin gas on Khan-Sheikhoun which resulted into 102 deaths and 405 injuries . The fallout of this was the retributive firing of Tomahawk missiles by U.S.A at Syrian air base. Prior to this attack, Syrian forces have already been using chemical weapons to quell the unrest in the on going civil war in their provinces. The Ghouta attack in the suburbs of Damascus in August 2013 and Khan al-Asal in suburb of Aleppo in March 2013 are worth wile to be mentioned here. Over the years, series of offensives by various countries using chemical warfare agents has escalated. A chemical weapon is a specialized ammunition that incorporates various chemical warfare agents. These chemical agents are toxic substances that are lethal to human beings, animals and plants and are broadly classified into four categories. First are the nerve agents primarily affecting the nervous system. Second comprise the choking agents which choke the respiratory system. Third are the blood agents known for the disruption of the circulatory system. Not to forget the fourth class of chemical agents encompassing the blister agents notorious for causing damage to the skin .These chemicals are absorbed and assimilated in the body through various routes. Inhalation, exposure to eyes, skin, intake through food and water are the most commonly encountered routes. Their repercussions are quite prompt and occur within minutes depending upon the type, dose and the lethality of the chemical used. These are hazardous and have proven to be a menace to the society. But ironically there are safer ways of using these chemicals also. Looking at the adverse consequences of these chemicals on the human population, they are also rightly called as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and they stand a place in between conventional ammunition and nuclear/biological weapons. In spite of these well known facts, State/non state actors have used these chemical warfare agents against human beings around the globe. Mankind has always been vulnerable and subjected to the exposure of the toxic gases through industrial accidents and chemical terrorism.
Its pertinent to mention here that the history for use of chemical weapon goes back to 400 BC when Greek used sulphur mustard with pitched resin producing suffocating fumes during Trojan war. Subsequently chemical war fare agents were used on a large scale during world war-I (July 1914 – Nov.1918).
They were used by parties to demoralize, cause injury and kill the entrenched defenders. They used a variety of chemical war fares ranging from tear gas to the most lethal ones like phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas. During this period, about 1,24,000 tonnes of chemical warfare agents were used. This emanated into a large number of casualties. It is often quoted that, nearly 60 to 70% of the deaths were due to excessive use of chemical warfare agents. Moreover, the use of these types of chemicals were prohibited as for Hague convention of 1907, but commanders from both sides put a deaf ear to this and used these weapons extensively to inflict heavy causalities to their adversaries. The massive destruction and collateral damage forced the countries to rethink on the policy of using the chemical weapons in future wars. Hence in 1925 the league of Nation approved the Geneva protocol which banned the use of chemical weapons. Thus during World War-II there was very limited use of chemical weapons but at the same time,many countries incongruosly piled up large number of chemical warfare arsenal for the future.Iraqi forces also extensively used nerve gas and targeted Iranian combats and non-combats especially in the border villages and cities during Iraq Iran war. This caused nearly 2000 deaths and innumerable injuries. Further, Iraqi regime also used chemical weapons to kill the Kurdish people in their own territory. During this attack by Saddam Hussain regime nearly 5000 Kurdish were massacred.
In further substantiating the menace of chemical war fare to human population, various man made industrial disasters have also played their part too. Prominent among them were Seveso disaster in Italy on July 1976 and Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 in India.
Seveso accident occurred in a small chemical manufacturing plant situated around 20 kilometers north of Milan in Italy. It released tetrachlorodibenzo-p dioxin (TCCD) in residential areas leading to mass devastation.Eventually the effects of dioxin on civilian population were studied and plant safety regulations were formalized in Italy. Also the industrial accident at Union Carbide plant on 3rd December 1984 at Bhopal still remains as one of the worst unparalleled catastrophe in the history of mankind. The plant released nearly 42 tonnes of Methyl isocyanide (MIC) gas in the environment. This poisonous gas polluted and engulfed the city of Bhopal leading to large scale causalities. Thousands of people residing in that area were rendered sick and handicapped due to the toxic effects of gas and the aftermath is still continuing. Many injuries were permanent and few even led to birth defects. The reasons for large number of deaths and injuries are attributed to the sudden engulfing of the people who were caught unaware about the accident and came out of their houses in a chaos getting direct exposure to poisonous gas. The magnitude of devastation was colossal but residents who stayed indoors suffered less. The reason for the leak was identified as poor maintenance of storage tanks. Therefore, it is important to follow strict safety regulations during operation and maintenance of the plants.
Besides mankind around the globe has also suffered due to chemical terrorism ( basically a form of terrorism that uses toxic chemicals to kill or injure). The terrorists seek to attack the basic sense of well being of the general public through physical injury, loss of life and causing damage to property using toxic chemical chemical warfare agents or other means.
A glaring example of which is from Japan where the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo released the nerve gas agent sarin simultaneously in 5 sub stations of Tokyo city near the hub of Japanese Government in the year 1995. This resulted into 12 deaths and around 1000 people were hospitalized, whereas out of panic nearly 5000 people reported to hospital.
Keeping the above facts in mind, the organization for prohibition of chemical weapon was formed on 29th April, 1997 with its headquarter at Hague, Netherland. Around 192 countries are signatory to this chemical weapon convention (CWC) whereas only four states- Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan are not the members of this CWC. The mandate of OPCW is to keep the world free from chemical weapon, get the piled up arsenal in various countries destroyed and also conduct periodic inspection of industries where toxic chemical are manufactured.
But in spite of the above stated facts,Syria still used chemical war fare agents against their adversary. Killing of Kim Jong Nam, half brother of South Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un by two women by using two binary precursors of one of the deadliest chemical is also another example of terrorism act. The author is of the opinion that even though the corrective measures have been taken by the member countries regarding the banning of the use of chemical warfare agents in the battle field, yet it is the responsibility of all the member states to ensure that stock pile of chemical warfare does not fall into the hands of terrorist organization like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
(Ther author is former Director General DRDO & Special Secretary Ministry of Defence GoI)
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