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FEATURE

Despite the obvious danger inherent in nuclear weapons, it must not be
forgotten that there are other means of mass destruction in the arsenals of
states, including chemical weapons. The m‘d boggles at the fact that a few
kilograms of toxic agents from the tens of thousands of tons which form part
of the armaments of certain countries are sufficient to kill several million

people. In addition, new programs are being launched for the production of
still more sophisticated lethal types of chemical weapons.

Everything should be done for the elimination of chemical weaponsfrom >
the face of the earth. The Soviet Union is a firm advocate of this. We are
prepared to agree without delay on the complete prohibition of chemical
weapons and the destruction of their stockpiles.

(Leonid Brezhnev, president of the Soviet Union, to the United Nations
Second Special Session on Disarmament)

The Pentagon’s

deadly brew

truction of arsenals outside the United
_ lates. Ten billion dollars is to be in-

Vested in this between 1983 and 1985.
_ SUrthermore, the'government’s budget
allows for the granting of subsidies to
—‘Ndustry. for them to stock up with
_ *¥ategically important components
_ Md chemicals to act as a reserve for the
_ Tabid conversion of the industry to war
— Production.

_ According to U.S. government plans,

the Storage of new weapons systems
Should be concentrated in Western
‘and pe, in particular Federal Germany
_ “Nd Great Britain.
. Rate Pentagon’s plans also envisage
| othe Ployment of chemical weapons in
Es T West European countries apart
- mp) the Federal Republic and Britain.
Wit U.S. recently signed an agreement
_ ‘Mth Italy that expands its military pre-
: to in Verona and Vicenza, where
_ Xie artillery shells are to be stored.
* tha Pentagon planners have calculated
4,0. 0 Wage a successful chemical war
| euro
ay.

#

pe the chemical weapon capac-
ON the continent must be raised to
of to tons (approximately 500 grams
| xic material per inhabitant).
“by the U.S. military’s view, the new
strin_(in two parts) principle has
g € advantages.
,, in addition, intensive activities are

~ sta New chemical weapons. For in-
Ranee, at the ie center in
~ space Wood, Maryland, some 1,400
toxie wists are working on some 5,000
theiy Substances per year to examine
_ Suitability as chemical weapons.

Velo tes in the U.S. to perfect or de-

Many private firms and civilian in-
stitutions are also involved in the de-
velopment of chemical weapons in the
United States. Great hopes are being
placed in animal and plant toxins, for
instance Palytoxin and Ricin.

Palytoxin, which is secreted by un-
icellular parasites found in maritime
fungi, affects the cardiac muscle and
causes instant death through cardiac
paralysis when it enters the
bloodstream following penetration of
the skin. :

Ricin is a plant toxin which appears
in the manufacture of castor oil. It is a
slow-working poison which disrupts the
synthesis of protein. Small quantities
are sufficient to induce respiratory dis-

turbances and paralysis of the human

nervous system. ;

Already by the beginning of the 70s
there were indications of the stockpiling
of highly active poisons of water,
foodstuffs and other consumer goods.

In all, $2,500 million have been set
aside for chemical weapons research
development over the next five years.

Parallel to the beginning of the pro-
duction of binary weapons, increased
steps are being taken to train the U.S.
armed forces for chemical war. Al-
ready during the Elder Forest exercise
in 1980, NATO practiced the combined
use of nuclear and chemical weapons.

In mid-1981 a training camp for
chemical weapons warfare was opened
at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Chemical
warfare exercises form a regular part
of operational and combat training. All
U.S. troops are provided with protective

clothing, sophisticated masks, and re-
connaissance and detoxication equip-
ment.

In nearly all exercises involving the
U.S. armed forces and the armies of
other NATO states, the use of chemical
weapons is regarded as a matter of
course. The use of chemical weapons by
the U.S. armed forces is even being en-
visaged for more distant theaters as a
necessary part of protecting ‘“‘U-S. sec-
urity interests.”

Although the U.S. has earmarked
densely-populated Europe as the chief
theater for chemical warfare, it is also
preparing for the use of chemical
agents in other parts of the world, in
particular the Middle East, parts of the
Indian Ocean region and Southeast
Asia.

Thus the Indian National Herald re-

ported on Feb. 15, 1982 that the U.S. 82nd
Airborne Division is being trained for
chemical warfare in the Indian Ocean
and its adjacent countries. This unit had
already gained experience during the
war against Vietnam in the use of Agent

Orange and CS gas. The division forms.

part of the Rapid Deployment Force,
which the Reagan Administration plans
to build up to 300,000 men. It can be dis-
patched at short notice with all
weapons, the necessary supplies, all
types of ammunition and complete
equipment to all parts of the world.
The dangers inherent in the use of
chemical weapons is highlighted by the
disastrous effects of chemical warfare
agents employed by the United States
armed forces in Southeast Asia during
the Vietnam War. pore
Today the damage to agricultural
land caused by U.S. chemical warfare
in Indochina is still painfully apparent
and is making itself felt on the living
conditions of the population, in particu-
lar in the southern part of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam. The genetic dam-
age to the population in the contami-
nated areas is evident today in the ris-
ing number of deformities among new-

_ born children.

Two million Vietnamese were the di-
rect victims of chemical agents that
previously have been classified as
‘“‘non-injurious”’ to human beings.

_ Among the U.S. armed forces them-

selves, tens of thousands of personnel
suffered damage to their health from
contact with Agent Orange, Agent Pur-
ple and Agent White.

During the Vietnam War the U.S.
also used anti-personnel toxic agents.

The U.S. also used chemical.

weapons during its aggression in Korea.
The U.S.-backed. armed bands in Af-
ghanistan and the junta troops in El
Salvador also use chemical weapons
from the U.S. :

As early as 1972 the Soviet Union,
together with the other socialist coun-
tries, presented to the Geneva Disar-

mament Committee a draft convention
on the banning of the development and
stockpiling of chemical weapons, and
on their destruction. The socialist coun-
tries proposed that verification of com-
phance with the treaty’s terms should
be carried out by national means in con-
junction with some international proce-
dures. :

To overcome the resistance of the
United States and other Western states
to this draft convention, and in line with
an agreement made during the Soviet-
American summit in Vladivostok in
November 1974, bilateral discussions
began in August 1979 in Geneva between
representatives of the two powers as to
how, as an initial step, an international
convention could be drawn up on ban-
ning the-dangerous, deadly chemical
means of conducting warfare. These
negotiations were broken off by the Un-
ited States in July 1980; up until now no
agreement has been reached on a date
for reopening them.

In view of the arms drive by the U.S.
in the field of chemical weapons, the
necessity for the signing of such an a-
greement has become more urgent than
ever. An uncontrolled development of
new chemical weapons would mean a
further round of the arms race. Furth-
ermore, the proliferation of the latest
chemical technology enables aggressor
states such as Israel and South Africa to
produce chemical weapons at a rela-
tively low financial cost and to use them
against neighboring countries or to ex-
port them to other states.

For all these reasons, the latest
Soviet intitiative received the support of
the overwhelming majority of the

‘ world’s states at the UN Second Special

Session on Disarmament last June
when it submitted the draft of a conven-
tion on the banning of the development.
production and stockpiling of chemical
weapons and on their destruction. The
draft contains the proposal that signat-
ory states should undertake

never and under no circumstances
to develop, produce, otherwise ac-
quire, stockpile, retain or transfer
chemical weapons, and to destroy
existing stockpiles of such
weapons.

Following the convention coming
into force, the signatory states should
declare whether and to what extent they
possess weapons of this type and what
sort of production capacity they have
for them. The draft also contains pro-
posals for international verification
measures, including within the
framework of the UN.

Whether chemical weapons will soon
be universally banned and eliminated,
whether humanity will be freed of this
theat hanging over it, now depends on
the Reagan Administration.

Excerpted from Panorama DDR.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 26, 1982—Page 7