Editing Chemical weapons in World War I (section)

=== The Geneva Protocol, 1925 ===
[[File:Soviet chemical weapons canisters from a stockpile in Albania.jpg|thumb|Chemical weapons canister and stockpile.<ref>{{Cite web |title=File:Soviet chemical weapons canisters from a stockpile in Albania.jpg - Wikipedia |date=30 November 2006 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_chemical_weapons_canisters_from_a_stockpile_in_Albania.jpg |access-date=2022-08-02 |publisher=commons.wikimedia.org |language=en}}</ref>]]

The [[Geneva Protocol]], signed by 132 nations on June 17, 1925, was a treaty established to ban the use of chemical and biological weapons among signatories in international armed conflicts.<ref name="GP"/> As stated by Coupland and Leins, "it was fostered in part by a 1918 appeal in which the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the use of poisonous gas against soldiers as a barbarous invention which science is bringing to perfection".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robin Coupland |first=Kobi-Renée Leins |date=2005-07-20 |title=Science and Prohibited Weapons – ICRC |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/weapons-biotechnology-200705.htm |access-date=2022-08-01 |website=Science Magazine |language=en-us}}</ref> Chemical warfare agents that contained bromine, nitroaromatic, and chlorine were dismantled and destroyed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haas |first=Rainer |date=1999-03-01 |title=Destruction of chemical weapons – Technologies and practical aspects |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02987115 |journal=Environmental Science and Pollution Research |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=19 |doi=10.1007/BF02987115 |pmid=19005858 |bibcode=1999ESPR....6...19H |s2cid=185978 |issn=1614-7499}}</ref> The destruction and disposal of the chemicals did not consider the long-term and adverse impacts on the environment.

The Protocol does not ban the stockpilling or production of chemical weapons<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arms Control and Disarmament |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/disarmament |access-date=2022-08-01 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> as well as the use of such weaponry against non-ratifying states and in internal disturbances or conflicts, and permits reservations that allow signatories to adopt the policy of [[no first use]].<ref name="GP"/> As a result, the [[Chemical Weapons Convention]] (CWC) was drafted in 1993, which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. Despite there being an international ban on chemical warfare, the CWC "allows domestic law enforcement agencies of the signing countries to use chemical weapons on their citizens".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Alexandra |date=2022-01-19 |title=Chemical Weapons and their Unforeseen Impact on Health and the Environment |url=https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjteil/vol12/iss1/1 |journal=Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law |volume=12 |issue=1}}</ref>