Banning Chemical Weapons The Scientific Background [Paperback]

A comprehensive 1993 account of all the issues surrounding chemical warfare, presenting technical information in a form accessible to the non-scientist.The aim of this volume is to provide technical information to people interested in the broader aspects of disarmament, by showing how it must be used in negotiations to achieve a worldwide and enforceable ban on chemical weapons.The aim of this volume is to provide technical information to people interested in the broader aspects of disarmament, by showing how it must be used in negotiations to achieve a worldwide and enforceable ban on chemical weapons.Banning Chemical Weapons provides a readable and brief outline of chemical warfare; its origin and the offensive and defensive aspects. The aim of this volume is to give technical information to people interested in the wider aspects of disarmament, by showing how this technical material must be used in the negotiations to achieve a worldwide and enforceable ban on chemical weapons. While not a textbook, this volume provides accessible technical background to the issue of chemical disarmament.1. Introduction; 2. The science of peace and war; 3. Chemistry and chemical warfare; 4. The target; 5. Modern chemical warfare: offence; 6. Modern chemical warfare: defence; 7. Discussions on matters of particular interest; 8. Chemical industry and the trade in chemicals; 9. Technical problems in the implementation of a chemical weapons convention; 10. The future for arms control; 11. Conclusions; Appendices. ...the author has managed to pack an amazing amount of information into a slim volume and present it in a very readable style: concise yet thorough, factual but also entertaining, with frequent flashes of dry humour. Nature ...a salutary read, made all the more powerful by the author's intimate understanding of what these chemicals do to people....Banning Chemical Weapons will help enlighten those who make the decisions and, it is to be hoped, to persuade them that possels¦