ABSTRACT
In August of 1948, at the United Nations, a resolution had been agreed upon that defined weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons were defined as including “weapons operating by atomic explosions, weapons operating with the aid of radioactive materials, lethal chemical and biological weapons” as well as any weapons to be developed in that possessed comparable characteristics. The definition of weapons of mass destruction set forth in the UN resolution has been important over the years in the arms control process. There are many other international arms control agreements that provide specific limitations on certain weapons of mass destruction. The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare of 1925 in effect prohibits the first use in war of chemical and biological weapons. At the Thirty-first Session of the UN General Assembly, the US delegation urged the negotiation of an international agreement banning radiological weapons.
