Chemical weapons are different than regular weapons or nuclear weapons because they do not explode. Some chemical weapons are meant to kill people; they do this by poisoning them.
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Several international laws have said that using chemical weapons is illegal. But chemical weapons have still been used in wars since then.
Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction by the United Nations, and their production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
History:
Although very basic chemical warfare has been used in many parts of the world for thousands of years, ‘modern’ chemical warfare began during World War I.
France was the first country to make this type of gas. However, Germany was the first to use of chemical warfare agents was during World War I.
Various agents including chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene gas by the German army.
Modern use:
Chemical weapons were not used very much in World War II because the raw materials needed to make chemical weapons were not easy to get.
It has been reported that many other countries, like the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, and Serbia and Montenegro, have chemical weapons.
Laws about chemical weapons:
In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was created and as of the end of 2015, 192 countries had agreed to follow the CWC.
According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as of October 2015, 90% of the world’s chemical weapons stockpiles had been destroyed.