As the Fourth Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention meets next month, state parties need to address mounting concerns about the potential development and use of law-enforcement weapons involving chemical agents that act on the central nervous system (CNS). Since 2013, when the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ridding much of the world of stockpiled chemical weapons, lethal nerve agents have been used in Syria (sarin), Malaysia (VX) and the United Kingdom (novichok). There is a high risk that our enhanced understanding of the brain, coupled with rapidly advancing technology, will facilitate the development of increasingly dreadful chemical weapons. Article II.9(d) of the Chemical Weapons Convention designates law enforcement, including domestic riot control, as a potentially acceptable purpose for the use of certain toxic chemicals (provided that the types and quantity used are consistent with this purpose). However, the range of potentially permissible chemicals has not been established. This provides a possible loophole for states to use CNS-acting chemicals for law enforcement. The use and development of ever-more sophisticated agents for such purposes would work against the prohibition of chemical weapons. We strongly believe that this potential loophole must be closed. There are 39 countries that publicly support an initiative led by Australia ...
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0028-0836 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07058-w ID - ref1 ER -