Chemical control - regulation of incapacitating chemical agent weapons, riot control agents and their means of delivery

摘要

Dr Michael Crowley is project co-ordinator of the Bradford Peace Studies Non-Lethal Weapons Research project, as well as a Research Associate at the Omega Research Foundation. He is one of a tiny number of researchers able to speak authoritatively on both incapacitating chemical weapons and riot control agents-the core topics of this meticulously researched book. Given the welcome advent of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1997, people could be forgiven for thinking that all weapons employing toxic chemicals were now outlawed. Alas, not so. The CWC is policed by a formidable bureaucracy, staffed by 500 officers working out of its HQ in The Hague. Crowley informs us that it includes State parties representing 98% of the global population and landmass, as well as 98% of the worldwide chemical industry. And yet there is a loophole in the treaty - states are allowed to use chemical agents for 'law enforcement'. What this term means has never been adequately defined and there is now a burgeoning industry making weapons for internal state control.