Abstract
According to Moon,1 the use of biological weapons in war has been the subject of restrictions since the principle prohibiting their use was established in customary law2 dating back to the classical Greek and Roman period. The restrictions on the use of BW in customary law was subsequently defined in the eighteenth century, and codified in the century that followed. According to Dando:3
The International Declaration concerning the Laws and Customs of War signed in Brussels in 1874, the First International Peace Conference in The Hague in 1899, and the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague in 1907 all reached conclusions on specific prohibitions of poison weapons.
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Notes
According to John van Courtland Moon, by the end of this period, the precedent against the use of poison in warfare had rendered the prohibition a principal of international customary law. See J. van Courtland Moon, ‘Controlling Chemical and Biological Weapons Through World War III, in R.D Burns (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Arms Control and Disarmament, Vol. II, Charles Schribner’s Sons, New York, 1993, pp.567–674.
A set of general precepts of the laws of war. General rules incorporated into the customary law of war. See Introduction, SIPRI, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare: CBW and the Law of War, Vol. III, Humanities Press, New York, 1973.
M. Dando, ‘The Development of International Legal Constraints on Biological Warfare in the 20th Century’, The Finnish Yearbook of International Law, Kluwer International, 1999, p.10.
M. Dando, Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity, Harwood Academic Publishers, (for the British Medical Association), 1999, p. 14.
A. Boserup, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare: Volume III: CBW and the Law of War, SIPRI, 1973, p.25.
E. Geissler, J. E. van Courtland Moon and Graham S. Pearson, ‘Lessons from the History of Biological and Toxin Warfare’, in E. Geissler and J.E. van Courtland Mood (eds), Biological and Toxin Weapons: Research, Development and Use from the Middle Ages to 1945, SIPRI Chemical and Biological Warfare Studies No. 18, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.256.
According to SIPRI, ‘Biological anti-plant agents are definitely prohibited under the Geneva Protocol chemical herbicides were not discussed in 1925 (though biological anti-crop agents were referred to in the negotiations and were considered to be comprised under the Protocol’s prohibition’, see p. 71 and 136, SIPRI, The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare: CBW and the Law of War, Vol. III, Humanities Press, New York, 1973.
Two additional Friends of the Chair were appointed at the July 1997 Ad Hoc Group meeting, one to address the Annex on Investigation (South Africa), and one to address Legal Issues (Australia). Two additional Friends of the Chair were appointed at the September 1997 Ad Hoc Group Meeting, one to address Confidentiality (Germany) and another to address Implementation and Assistance (India). See Tibor Toth, ‘A Window of Opportunity for the BWC Ad Hoc Group’, The CBW Conventions Bulletin, Issue No. 37, September 1997, p.2.
G.S. Pearson, ‘The BTWC Enters the Endgame’, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No. 39, July/ August 1999, p.13.
G.S. Pearson, ‘The BTWC Enters the Endgame’, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No. 39, July/August 1999
T. Toth, ‘Prospects for the Ad Hoc Group’, in G.S. Pearson et al. (eds), Verification of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, Kluwer Academic Publications, 1999, p.219.
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© 2002 Simon M. Whitby
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Whitby, S.M. (2002). Anti-Crop BW and the BTWC. In: Biological Warfare Against Crops. Global Issues Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230514645_4
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