Chemical weapons ban in force

The United Nations' Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) has come into force - and the US is on board, lending it invaluable credibility. The treaty bans the use, sales and manufacture of chemical weapons and puts strict controls on materials that could be used to make them. While unquestionably a good thing for humanity, the CWC also opens up new issues for the process industries.

The treaty came into force on 29 April, triggered by its ratification by two-thirds of its signatories. The US sponsored and signed the treaty, but continued wrangling in the Senate had blocked its ratification, which threatened to make the US a `pariah state'. The Republican leader of the Senate's foreign relations committee, Jesse Helms, a hard-line right-winger, had alleged that Russia - which is, with the US, the only country that admits holding chemical weapons - was developing new weapons designed to circumvent the CWC, and had lied about their stockpiles. However, support for the treaty from George Bush and Robert Dole, and a concession from President Clinton that he would withdraw from the CWC if chemical weapons proliferation continued and threatened US security, swayed most of the more moderate party members, giving the President a 74-to-26 majority.

The CWC calls for all chemical weapon stockpiles to be destroyed and bans their manufacture and sale. It also creates an international body to monitor the use and trade of any material that could be used as, or turned into, a chemical weapon. Companies using such materials will have to register with this body, and will be subject to surprise inspections. Countries which have not ratified the treaty are subject to trade embargoes against these materials. This promises to bring in reams of new paperwork across the chemical industry. New techniques to destroy chemical weapons will also be needed (see page 21). Russia, in particular, will need financial and technological help to destroy its stockpile - even if Jesse Helms is wrong.