HUMANS | WAR | ENVIRONMENT
How Can Chemical Weapons Be Banned Yet Pose a Threat in the 21st Century?
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare
When I think of chemical weapons, the images from 2013 immediately reappear in my mind. Those images, that went around the world back then, when Syria’s Ghouta region, east of Damascus, was attacked with the poison gas sarin.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people fell victim to the attack. Innocent citizens, old people, children, babies, …. And even today, 9 years later, I fight with tears when I think back to the tragic events and the suffering of those people.
📽️ Syria: Chemical Attacks on Ghouta | August 21, 2013
What seems incredible in this context, but unfortunately corresponds to the truth:
It did not stop at this attack.
According to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, there were 39(!) chemical weapons attacks in Syria between 2013 and 2018.
What Is Sarin?
Initially, the poison was intended to be used as an insecticide. Sarin is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. We would therefore not necessarily notice it immediately if we were to inhale the gas. Yet even the smallest amounts can be lethal.
Sarin attacks the nervous system.
Symptoms include, among others:
- Convulsions
- Visual disturbances
- Excessive salivation
- Vomiting
- Unconsciousness
- Shortness of breath or respiratory paralysis
📽️ (CNN) Expert: Video proves Syria’s chemical weapons use
If the poison was absorbed through the skin, it kills within 18 hours. However, if the affected person has inhaled the gas, they may die after the first minute due to respiratory paralysis.
A substance in belladonna helps as an “antidote.”
Atropine —which is also a deadly poison, but which counteracts the effect of sarin. However, despite immediate treatment, long-term damage often remains in those affected.
Use Despite Ban on Use
Sarin was already recognized as a potential warfare agent during the Second World War, and large quantities were stockpiled — also in Germany.
→ However, the poison was never used at that time.
- In 1988, Saddam Hussein had sarin bombs dropped on Iranian villages.
- A few years earlier, the poison gas was used under orders of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet against his political enemies.
In 1993, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of the United Nations decided to ban both the production and storage of sarin, which unfortunately has not definitively stopped those in power from using the poisonous gas anyway.
To remember the victims of chemical warfare, the Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare is held every year on November 30.
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