Citation

Hotchkiss PJ. Nature 2023; 623(7987): e459.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/d41586-023-03509-1

PMID

37964064

Abstract

This year, my colleagues at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) -- which implements the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms-control treaty that entered into force in 1997 -- and I reached a milestone: we verified that the last remaining declared stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world had been destroyed. Now, the OPCW is intensifying its focus on ensuring that these weapons do not re-emerge. This involves bolstering the political commitments and collective will needed to maintain the norm against the use of chemical weapons, as well as preventing the proliferation of materials, equipment and expertise.

As the OPCW's science-policy adviser, I monitor the impact of advances in science and technology on the implementation of the convention and the organization's work. I now find us facing an ongoing challenge -- one that collaboration from governments and the scientific community can help us to overcome.

In 2019, the OPCW's 193 member states decided unanimously, for the first time in history, to add compounds to the schedules, the lists of chemicals that are regulated under the convention. The four entries comprise toxic nerve agents with no known civilian use: three cover phosphorus-based agents (in the 'novichok family'), and the fourth is a family of carbamates, another kind of nerve agent. The convention already prohibited using these (or any chemical) to intentionally kill or harm people through toxicity. Now, their production, transfer and storage are subject to stringent verification by the OPCW, through declarations and on-site inspections...

Language: en

Keywords

Policy; Chemistry; Politics