Tens of thousands of Iranians were killed and more were physically and/or mentally injured in Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). During this war the most extensive use of chemical weapons in recent years by Iraq was reported against Iranian veterans and also Iranian and Iraqi civilians. In this study we aimed at finding probable neuropsychological injuries in victims of chemical weapons comparing other...

Tens of thousands of Iranians were killed and more were physically and/or mentally injured in Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). During this war the most extensive use of chemical weapons in recent years by Iraq was reported against Iranian veterans and also Iranian and Iraqi civilians. In this study we aimed at finding probable neuropsychological injuries in victims of chemical weapons comparing other...

to an apogee of mass murder, with widespread killing of military personnel and civilians; the indiscriminate aerial bombing of cities such as London, Dresden, and Tokyo; and the detonation of single bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These nuclear bombs caused some 200,000 deaths immediately and hundreds of thousands of injuries, many resulting in death in succeeding months and in permanent phy...

This paper reviews new and emerging weapons systems targeted directly or indirectly against personnel. It distinguishes emerging technologies that may form the basis of usable weapons in the next 10 years, from the speculations and aspirations of weapons designers, and identifies six groups of weapons systems which will present significant new or changing threats to UK forces. The article combi...

For the first time the Deparment of Health and Human Services is part of the national security apparatus of the United States. That reflects a change in our views on chemical and biological defense programs. Almost 5 years ago at the bidding of the president we began to look at what has come to be known as “asymmetrical threats,” ways in which opponents (be they nations or terrorist groups) cou...

Nuclear weapons pose a grave threat to the health of children. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which for almost 40 years has limited the spread of nuclear weapons, is in danger of unraveling. At the 2000 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, 180 countries, including the United States, agreed on 13 practical steps to implement Article VI of the treaty, which calls for nuclear d...

The variety of weapons of mass destruction are intended to create the maximum possible fear, death, destruction, and general terror in the target region or nation, particularly with new and creative ways of using them. An understanding of how these weapons work, the ways they may be used, and the scope of their destruction can contribute to effectively combating their effects. This article exam...

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force on 26 March 1975 with the United Kingdom, the United States and the former Soviet Union as the depositary governments. The Convention is to eliminate biological weapons and prohibit their development, production, stockpiling, acquisition and retention. It has 15 articles. The init...

Efforts to halt proliferation of nuclear weapons are threatened by vulnerability of weapons-usable material to smuggling especially in Russia. Mixing 232 U into highlyenriched uranium (HEU) makes it readily observable and harder to steal. Adding a proportion of 233 U associated with a specific storage site enables attribution to be performed on stolen HEU that has been recovered. Incorporating ...

Commentators differ on whether nuclear disarmament would be desirable, but many argue that disarmament is impractical because it could not be verified. Three reasons are often offered for such pessimism. First, nuclear weapons are small and difficult to detect, and one could not be sure that a few weapons had not been hidden away. Second, nuclear weapons are so destructive that a mere handful w...