Richard M. Price asks why, among all the ominous technologies of weaponry throughout the history of warfare, chemical weapons carry a special moral stigma. Something more seems to be at work than the predictable resistance people have expressed to any new weaponry, from the crossbow to nuclear bombs. Perceptions of chemical warfare as particularly abhorrent have been successfully institutionalized in international proscriptions and, Price suggests, understanding the sources of this success might shed light on other efforts at arms control.To explore the origins and meaning of the chemical weapons taboo, Price presents a series of case studies from World War I through the Gulf War of 1990-1991. He traces the moral arguments against gas warfare from the Hague Conferences at the turn of the century through negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. From the Italian invasion of Ethiopia to the war between Iran and Iraq, chemical weapons have been condemned as the "poor man's bomb." Drawing upon insights from Michel Foucault to explain the role of moral norms in an international arena rarely sensitive to such pressures, he focuses on the construction of and mutations in the refusal to condone chemical weapons.

This groundbreaking book covers every aspect of deadly toxic chemicals used as weapons of mass destruction and employed in conflicts, warfare and terrorism. Including findings from experimental as well as clinical studies, this one-of-a-kind handbook is prepared in a very user- friendly format that can easily be followed by students, teachers and researchers, as well as lay people. Stand-alone chapters on individual chemicals and major topics allow the reader to easily access required information without searching through the entire book.This is the first book that offers in-depth coverage of individual toxicants, target organ toxicity, major incidents, toxic effects in humans, animals and wildlife, biosensors, biomarkers, on-site and laboratory analytical methods, decontamination and detoxification procedures, prophylactic, therapeutic and countermeasures, and the role of homeland security. - Presents a comprehensive look at all aspects of chemical warfare toxicology in one reference work. This saves researchers time in quickly accessing the very latest definitive details on toxicity of specific agents used in chemical warfare as opposed to searching through thousands of journal articles. Will include the most agent-specific information on the market - Includes detailed coverage of the most exhaustive list of agents possibly used as chemical warfare agents in one source. Section 4: Agents That Can Be Used as Weapons of Mass Destruction ? 25 chapters long. Other books on the market only include a sample selection of specific agents. Offering all possible agents detailed under one cover makes this appealing to a wider audience and saves researchers time - The Forward will be written by Dr. Tetsuo Satoh, Chiba University, Japan. He is one of the most respected, recognizable authorities on chemical warfare agents which will set the authoritative tone for the book - Covers risk to humans, animals and the environment equally. Researchers involved in assessing the risks involved with a possible chemical warfare attack and those who are developing response plans to such attacks must look at not only the risks to human health but to our wildlife and environment as well. The holistic approach taken in this book ensures that the researchers have ready access to the details no matter which aspect of the effects of CWA's they might be concerned with

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. On April 22, 1915, the German military released 150 tons of chlorine gas at Ypres, Belgium. Carried by a long-awaited wind, the chlorine cloud passed within a few minutes through the British and French trenches, leaving behind at least 1,000 dead and 4,000 injured. This chemical attack, which amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction, marks a turning point in world history. The preparation as well as the execution of the gas attack was orchestrated by Fritz Haber, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I, Haber transformed his research institute into a center for the development of chemical weapons (and of the means of protection against them). Bretislav Friedrich and Martin Wolf (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of Haber’s institute) together with Dieter Hoffmann, Jürgen Renn, and Florian Schmaltz (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) organized an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the infamous chemical attack. The symposium examined crucial facets of chemical warfare from the first research on and deployment of chemical weapons in WWI to the development and use of chemical warfare during the century hence. The focus was on scientific, ethical, legal, and political issues of chemical weapons research and deployment — including the issue of dual use — as well as the ongoing effort to control the possession of chemical weapons and to ultimately achieve their elimination. The volume consists of papers presented at the symposium and supplemented by additional articles that together cover key aspects of chemical warfare from 22 April 1915 until the summer of 2015.

In this important and revelatory book, Jonathan Tucker, a leading expert on chemical and biological weapons, chronicles the lethal history of chemical warfare from World War I to the present. At the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of synthetic chemistry made the large-scale use of toxic chemicals on the battlefield both feasible and cheap. Tucker explores the long debate over the military utility and morality of chemical warfare, from the first chlorine gas attack at Ypres in 1915 to Hitler’s reluctance to use nerve agents (he believed, incorrectly, that the U.S. could retaliate in kind) to Saddam Hussein’s gassing of his own people, and concludes with the emergent threat of chemical terrorism. Moving beyond history to the twenty-first century, War of Nerves makes clear that we are at a crossroads that could lead either to the further spread of these weapons or to their ultimate abolition.

"The Mirzayanov case is an immediate legal litmus test of emerging Russian democracy. He is an individual in the true tradition of Andrei Sakharov, a man persecuted under the former regime for telling the truth, but now, rightfully, universally honored."--Dan Ellsberg, author.

Focusing on the Syria crisis, this book challenges the arguments in favour of the chemical weapons taboo, demonstrating how it can exacerbate a conflict.

The Chemical Weapons Convention is one of the cornerstone disarmament and arms control agreements, and the only global and comprehensive disarmament treaty that is being verified by an international agency. This Commentary assesses the provisions of the Convention and its implementation, with cross-cutting chapters providing a broader analysis.