ABSTRACT
Resort to chemical warfare (CW) is contrary to international treaty and custom. On closer inspection, the grounds for optimism about CW disarmament can appear rather less solid. At the time of World War II, technical changes within the field of CW itself, exemplified by the emergence of the nerve gases and powerful new herbicides, were beginning to promise increased military utility. In the CW area, in contrast to other fields of arms control, verification needs have consumed a disproportionately large share of the negotiating effort. States joining the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention bound themselves, by Article IX of that treaty, to "continue negotiations in good faith" for counterpart agreement on CW weapons. The idea of instituting chemical-weapon-free zones, pending a global ban on the weapons, has been spreading. The CW talks are replete with instances of "simple is best": destruction of proscribed items; global arrangements in preference to a succession of regional ones; the comprehensive in preference to the partial.
