In August 1914, World War I started. Modern chemical warfare began during the war when the German army released 168 tons of chlorine gas on the Belgian front, killing or injuring thousands of Allied (Triple-Entente) soldiers. The Allies responded in kind, and at least 30 substances were used as chemical weapons in the war, including arsenicals, mustard 'gas', bromoacetone, chloropicrin, trichloromethyl chloroformate, phosgene, and hydrogen cyanide. Ca. 91,000 were killed by chemical weapons in WWI and ca. 1.2 million injured, often with permanent effects. Mustard agent [bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide], highly toxic to humans, was particularly devastating and terrorizing. On both sides, many scientists, including eminent chemists, participated in chemical-warfare work, e.g., F. Haber (Nobel laureate, 1918), O. Hahn (Nobel 1944), W. Nernst (Nobel 1920), G. N. Lewis, R. Adams, W. J. Pope, E. Patern�, V. Grignard (Nobel 1912), etc. But some refused to participate, e.g., E. Rutherford (Nobel 1908), H. Staudinger (Nobel 1953), M. Born (Nobel 1954). The Hague treaties (1899, 1907) unequivocally banned poison weapons but were ignored. Since WWI, other treaties have prohibited chemical weapons (e.g., Geneva Protocol, 1925; Chemical Weapons Convention, 1993) but chemical warfare has continued, e.g., by Spain (in Morocco, 1920s), Soviet Union (Tambov rebellion, 1921), Italy (Ethiopia, 1935), Japan (China, 1938-39), US (Vietnam, 1960s-70s); Iraq (1980s). New, even more toxic weapons ('nerve agents', e.g., sarin) have been developed and used, even against civilian populations (e.g., in Syria, 2013). This history raises difficult questions concerning the morality of participation by scientists and industry in weapons-of-mass-destruction development.

Modern chemical warfare: History, chemistry, morality, a recollection and reflection at the centenary of World War I

248th National Meeting (2014)

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