Opinion Article

“Deathly weapons nowadays”

     Humanity has come so far, that it has taken advantage of the new and great scientific progress. It is inevitable to think of the catastrophic and ill-fated results that the constant use of these powerful weapons can cause. A terrifying future to which we approach with great strides, being pushed by those who misuse chemical weapons.

     Clearly important organizations have pumped their thinking about the use of chemically aggressive weapons, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in charge of taking detailed care of human health. "Any nation that creates, maintains, or dares to use chemical weapons must be considered to be a threat to not only its own population - but other populations around the world as well."1 Without a doubt, the use of these highly dangerous weapons has a lack of common sense, because of the use that has been given in this war, the UN has already concluded that the Assad regime used chemical weapons in three attacks against the Syrian population in 2014 and 2015.

     “Chemical weapons are classified as arms that use toxic chemical substances to harm or kill people during war”2 what suggests that the use of weapons is not for such a good. Russia with the support of The United States started evacuating Syria's chemical weapons in possession of the army of Bashar al-Assad. An operation to dismantle and remove weapons and toxic substances off Syria was launched under the eye of the inspectors of the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

     The Fact-Finding Mission of OPCW mandate is to determine if chemical weapons or toxic chemicals have been used in Syria; it does not include identifying who is responsible for alleged attacks. Which leaves us with an uncertainty about what happens, the simple use of a chemical weapon is investigated, but not thoroughly investigated who specially make use of them. I usually think that the use of weapons should be extremely investigated and treated. For example, according to the Anti-chemical Weapons Convention, it is noted that there are six countries that have not signed the treaty under the convention, in which Syria, Egypt, Angola, North Korea, Somalia and South Sudan join. Failure to sign such a treaty does not imply recognition of possessing chemical weapons. Eliminating all kinds of opportunities to obtain information about the use of weapons in those countries, as well as eliminating the opportunity to keep this world safe.

     The massive effect chemical weapons are heading us through is not only against humanity, but nature too. Biological warfare3 such as sea-dumping, open-air incineration or burial of chemicals, as well as furan reaction masses are extremely toxic to every living being in this planet. The most-worrying risk involves the migration of chemicals into the ground and water we use, making them part of the food chain.

     We can easily see the number of countries as the image shows, that are being involved under Syria’s War, making their opinions and their own actions count in order to make their countries free and safe. As I said before, by the mean of OPCW it might be difficult to solve the problem, but with the special help of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)4, there has been four countries with declared Chemical Weapons stockpiles on August 2009. Multiple organizations such as Green Cross Switzerland, USA and Russia had been helping and being a key part of the safe destruction of chemical weapons in both Russia and America.

     In the year 2000, Green Cross Switzerland started a campaign “Destroy Chemical Weapons Now” with the goal of raising awareness of the 90% (70,000 tons) of Chemical Weapons that USA and Russia possessed.

     “There is no justification for the creation, possession, or use of any type of chemical weapon. All stockpiles of chemical weapons must be appropriately destroyed”.5 What makes us know it might be difficult to be part of a country that uses Chemical Weapons, unless you can make use of them, as USA does.

     It is not easy to understand why humanity cannot control itself, preferring violence and weapons than peace and safety, preferring war and deaths than teamwork and freedom. Humanity is not trying to improve itself.



References

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2016, May 09). “Chemical Weapons
Elimination”. Retrieved March 13, 2018, from www.cdc.gov/nceh/demil/
WHO. (2004, September 21). “Public health response to biological and chemical weapons: WHO guidance” (2004). Retrieved March 13, 2018, from www.who.int/csr/delibepidemics/biochemguide/en/index.html
Ladera, I. M. (2017, April 07). “¿De dónde han salido las armas químicas de Siria?” Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.elespanol.com/mundo/oriente- proximo/20170406/206479955_0.html
Witlaan, J. (2018, February 07). “OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria Continues Investigations into Allegations of Chemical Weapons Use”. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-fact-finding-mission-in-syria-continues- investigations-into-allegations-of-chemical-weapons-use/
Chemical Warfare (2016). “Chemical Warfare” Retrieved March 21,2018, from sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/chemicalwarfare.html



-Fernanda Félix