The World Medical Association recognizes the growing threat that biological weapons might be used to cause devastating epidemics that could spread internationally. All countries are potentially at risk. The release of organisms causing smallpox, plague, anthrax or other diseases could prove catastrophic in terms of the resulting illnesses and deaths compounded by the panic such outbreaks would generate. At the same time, there is a growing potential for production of new microbial agents, as expertise in biotechnology grows and methods for genetic manipulation of organisms become simpler. These developments are of special concern to medical and public health professionals because it is they who best know the potential human suffering caused by epidemic disease and it is they who will bear primary responsibility for dealing with the victims of biological weapons. Thus, the World Medical Association believes that medical associations and all who are concerned with health care bear a special responsibility to lead in educating the public and policy makers about the implications of biological weapons and to mobilize universal support for condemning research, development, or use of such weapons as morally and ethically unacceptable.
As a nation, we have the responsibility of choosing whether or not we have the right and responsibility of using chemical weapons. From a purely strategic standpoint, chemical weapons can inflict a great loss of life with next to zero structural damage.
Research investigations by the United States into use of toxic gas as an instrument of war began with the establishment of a research unit, War Gas Investigations (WGI), in the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, March 1917, and by the appointment of a subcommittee on noxious gases by the Military Committee of the National Research Committee, April 3, 1917. Responsibility for procurement of gas masks and training of personnel in their use was transferred from WGI to the Gas Defense Division, Surgeon General's Office, August 31, 1917. Responsibility for manufacturing and filling gas shells was assigned, 1917, to the Gas Offense Production Division, Ordnance Department, at Edgewood Arsenal, MD. By memorandum from the Chief of Staff to the Adjutant General, October 16, 1917, Chemical Service Section, National Army, was established to provide the American Expeditionary Forces with overseas research and investigation capability, and a coordinating Office of Gas Service was established in the War Department. WGI transferred to War Department by EO 2984, June 25, 1918. Functions consolidated in Chemical Warfare Service, 1918.
As a nation, we have the responsibility of choosing whether or not we have the right and responsibility of using chemical weapons. From a purely strategic standpoint, chemical weapons can inflict a great loss of life with next to zero structural damage.
Research investigations by the United States into use of toxic gas as an instrument of war began with the establishment of a research unit, War Gas Investigations (WGI), in the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, March 1917, and by the appointment of a subcommittee on noxious gases by the Military Committee of the National Research Committee, April 3, 1917. Responsibility for procurement of gas masks and training of personnel in their use was transferred from WGI to the Gas Defense Division, Surgeon General's Office, August 31, 1917. Responsibility for manufacturing and filling gas shells was assigned, 1917, to the Gas Offense Production Division, Ordnance Department, at Edgewood Arsenal, MD. By memorandum from the Chief of Staff to the Adjutant General, October 16, 1917, Chemical Service Section, National Army, was established to provide the American Expeditionary Forces with overseas research and investigation capability, and a coordinating Office of Gas Service was established in the War Department. WGI transferred to War Department by EO 2984, June 25, 1918. Functions consolidated in Chemical Warfare Service, 1918.