Chemical and Biological Weapons for Mass Destruction

"The deadliness of the agents, especially the nerve gases," said one expert, "almost defies imagination. A drop of tabun or soman the size of a pinhead on your arm will kill you in three to six minutes." Yet chemical or biological agents are available in great quantities and can be directed against enemy personnel, livestock or crops.

Among the lethal agents are those that attack the nervous system, poison the blood, asphyxiate, or even painfully blister the skin. A number of nonlethal agents are also found in military arsenals of the world. Some of them aim to harass unprotected personnel by causing intense crying, sneezing, vomiting or irritation of the upper respiratory tract.

Militarization Reaching into Space

Even outer space is becoming increasingly militarized. Between 1963 and 1978 a total of 1,536 satellites serving military purposes were launched into space. This is about 75 percent of all satellites launched. In 1978 alone, 112 military satellites were launched-about one every three days! Such satellites are used for reconnaissance, early warning of attack, and communications, and are especially important for navigation.

Researchers believe that soon, by means of a satellite-based navigation system, it will be possible to guide a weapon anywhere on earth to within 10 m (33 feet) of its target!

Further Projects for Mass Destruction

Besides all of this, men are still looking for new means of mass destruction. SIPRI states in the book Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Environment: "Increasing attention is being paid to the manipulation of geophysical or environmental forces for hostile purposes." The harrowing report on this research says that a tampering with the atmosphere has been suggested for military purposes. This includes juggling the electrical properties of the ionosphere or troposphere to disrupt enemy communications, radar systems, navigation and missile-guidance systems.

The SIPRI report also suggests that techniques for initiating hurricanes or cyclones-or for redirecting natural ones-would make an immense destructive force available to the military. Another military aim is to learn how to control cloud-to-ground lightning for attacks.

The layer of ozone within the lower stratosphere, and which shields us from harmful amounts of ultraviolet radiation, is also viewed as a potential "weapon." How so? An article in the New York Times quotes Dr. Michael B. McElroy of Harvard University as saying that the chemical element bromine appears to be so effective at ozone depletion that it could be used as a weapon. If injected into the stratosphere it would purge the ozone, permitting ultraviolet radiation to reach the ground with sufficient intensity to destroy crops and incapacitate the inhabitants. The SIPRI report says: "It is perhaps already within our capacity to open a 'window' in this ozone layer over an enemy territory by injecting into it a bromine compound via controlled releases from an orbiting satellite."

Even the land could be used against an enemy. For example, if an enemy region happens to be located above or near some weak spot in the formation of the earth's crust, it might become possible to trigger an earthquake there. Similarly, "sleeping" volcanoes situated in enemy territory could be stimulated into destructive activity. Some landforms might well be suitable to disruption through the triggering of avalanches or landslides.

Fire also is a contemplated means of mass destruction. Great areas of importance to the enemy may be devastated by wildfires initiated by military action. With the employment of high-efficiency delayed-action incendiary devices and scattered antipersonnel mines, fighting a wildfire could be made virtually impossible.

Rainmaking is still another environmental weapon already used in modern warfare. In the recent Indochina war, aircraft seeded the clouds with such agents as silver iodide and lead iodide. The resultant rains ruined enemy lines of communication, hampered enemy offensives, aided bombing missions and created generally disruptive floods.

The list of "doomsday" weapons is endless, and this despite disarmament talks and peace agreements. Is it not obvious that the nations will never stop the arms race on their own?

When the Soviet armies invaded Afghanistan, all the fanfare over the signing of SALT II ended abruptly without a ratification of the treaty. The United States increased its military budget, and many fear a third world war.