Chemical Warfare Background

The modern history of chemical warfare dates to World War I and is credited with a million casualties and over 100,000 deaths throughout the four years of that engagement. Although tear-producing agents were utilized by the French with limited success in quelling civil disturbances prior to the war, they were not used once the war began. They were soon replaced by the more toxic, lethal war gases such as phosgene and chlorine. After the initial successes of the first World War I poison gas attacks, and as the full implications of this type of warfare became more apparent, a tremendous amount of research and development was undertaken by both sides. It was discovered that one particular substance, Chloroacetophenone (CN) produced, in proper concentrations, copious, and uncontrollable tears.

The balance of terror in Chemical Biological Warfare (CBW) weaponry was severely dislocated by the discovery of the nerve gases, and following World War II many nations hastened to manufacture these and a variety of less toxic chemicals. By the middle 1960s, the United States had settled on seven so-called standardized chemical warfare agents, having a spectrum of toxicity and useful applications in munitions.