Advantages Of Chemical And Chemical Weapons

917 Words2 Pages

Chemical and Biological Weapons Imagine waking up from a good night’s sleep and finding your whole family dead. As you stumble around your house looking for the cause of your family’s death, a strong chemical smell comes over you. It is the stinging smell of chlorine. Everyone agrees no one should have to endure this painful death by chemicals or biological weapons. What most people don’t know is that civilizations have been using this brutal war tactic since the 6th century, in which the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with a fungus that made the enemy incoherent. Even though most people agree that chemical and biological weapons are horrific, there is a conflicting argument as to whether there should be a total elimination versus the control of these weapons. In order to understand both sides of this conflict one must know what are chemical and biological weapons. A chemical weapon is any weapon that uses a manufactured chemical to kill people. Modern chemical and biological weapons focus on condensed chemical or biological agents, meaning that it takes a lot less of the chemical to kill the same number of people. Whereas, a biological weapon uses a bacteria to kill people. A modern biological weapon would use a strain of bacteria or a virus that would kill thousands of people. The first significant use of chemical and biological weapons were during World War 1, and the world quickly and unanimously decided that these weapons went too far. The problem that started today’s conflict on the elimination versus the control of chemical and biological weapons is that terrorists and rogue leaders don't pay attention to international treaties. Proponents for the elimination of chemical and biological we... ... middle of paper ... ...l and biological weapons no matter what. They argue that having the control to use these weapons will level the playing field if the need ever arises. The regulation or elimination of chemical and biological weapons has huge societal impacts going into the future. Both sides of this argument greatly understand the severity of these weapons. There usage not only impacts certain regions, but the whole world. The usage of chemical and biological weapons will continue to be a controversial topic because there will be technological advances that make the chemicals and organisms much more deadly. Now is the time to understand and make decisions on the use of chemical and biological weapons before it gets out of hand. However, human civilization has had these “moral’’ arguments from the beginning of time and solving them will be one of our greatest challenges.

Open Document