Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons examines the promise and peril behind weapons based on natural or synthetic biochemical compounds that are meant to cause rapid incapacitation but not to kill. An agent has yet to be found that can effectively incapacitate people without risk of death when used in a real-world military or law enforcement situation. But revolutionary advances in the life sciences and biotechnology are generating new knowledge and potentially greater capabilities for manipulating human consciousness, emotions, mental functions, and behavior. These advances, coupled with the changing nature of conflict and warfare in the 21st century, are generating renewed government interest in incapacitating biochemical weapons. Governments, international organizations, and society as a whole have critical decisions to make about whether and how to pursue the development, or conversely the effective prohibition, of incapacitating biochemical weapons. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the scientific, military, humanitarian, legal, and political issues associated with the development and use of incapacitating biochemical weapons. The expert contributing authors explore a wide range of issues pertinent to the topic from science to history to current military interest, arms control, and international law.Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons: Promise or Peril? will be of interest to scientists, the military and law enforcement communities, policy-makers, and all who are concerned about the proliferation of such weapons.

Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons examines the promise and peril behind weapons based on natural or synthetic biochemical compounds that are meant to cause rapid incapacitation but not to kill. An agent has yet to be found that can effectively incapacitate people without risk of death when used in a real-world military or law enforcement situation. But revolutionary advances in the life sciences and biotechnology are generating new knowledge and potentially greater capabilities for manipulating human consciousness, emotions, mental functions, and behavior. These advances, coupled with the changing nature of conflict and warfare in the 21st century, are generating renewed government interest in incapacitating biochemical weapons. Governments, international organizations, and society as a whole have critical decisions to make about whether and how to pursue the development, or conversely the effective prohibition, of incapacitating biochemical weapons. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the scientific, military, humanitarian, legal, and political issues associated with the development and use of incapacitating biochemical weapons. The expert contributing authors explore a wide range of issues pertinent to the topic from science to history to current military interest, arms control, and international law.Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons: Promise or Peril? will be of interest to scientists, the military and law enforcement communities, policy-makers, and all who are concerned about the proliferation of such weapons.

The threat of biological weapons has never attracted as much public attention as in the past five years. Current concerns largely relate to the threat of weapons acquisition and use by rogue states or by terrorists. But the threat has deeper roots--it has been evident for fifty years that biological agents could be used to cause mass casualties and large-scale economic damage. Yet there has been little historical analysis of such weapons over the past half-century.

"Deadly Cultures" sets out to fill this gap by analyzing the historical developments since 1945 and addressing three central issues: Why have states continued or begun programs for acquiring biological weapons? Why have states terminated biological weapons programs? How have states demonstrated that they have truly terminated their biological weapons programs?

We now live in a world in which the basic knowledge needed to develop biological weapons is more widely available than ever before. "Deadly Cultures" provides the lessons from history that we urgently need in order to strengthen the long-standing prohibition of biological weapons.