A Quick History of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Introduction to Canada's Weapons of Mass Destruction

Canada's Weapons of Mass Destruction

Canada's Policy on Weapons of Mass Destruction

A Quick History of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Weapons of Mass destruction are a great fear in today's world. There are three types of weapons of mass destruction: biological, chemical, and nuclear. Each weapon in itself is different in how it harms mankind but they all have the same purpose.

One biological weapon threat is anthrax. Anthrax is highly lethal, silent, and an invisible killer, which is the easiest to produce in large amounts of most biological weapons. If someone is to inhale anthrax, the outcome is fatal. Humans can come in contact with anthrax in three ways:

• Cuts or breaks of the skin caused/resulting from contact with an infected animal following in local and possibly blood stream infection.
• Inhalation of anthrax spores resulting in an infection of the lungs
• Consuming meat that has been infected causing gastrointestinal infection

Chemical weapons are known today generally as poisonous gases. These gases have not been used since World War I for fear of retaliation, even though they are highly effective. The first time that a country used poisonous gas was in 1915, in Ypres, France. The Germans used chlorine gas against the allies, which led to the creation of gas masks. Today, the only countries that use such weapons are Iraq and Iran. There are three types of chemical weapons. Listed below are just a few of many chemical weapons in three categories.

Nerve Agents:

• Tabun
• Sarin
• Soman

Blister Agents

• Sulfur mustard
• Nitrogen mustard
• Lewisite

Choking Agents

• Phosgene
• Chlorine
• Chloropicrin

Nuclear Weapons are a major concern for all of mankind. The first account of damage from a nuclear weapon was on August 6, 1945. A U.S. aircraft dropped a nuclear bomb over a Japanese city called Hiroshima. Three days later (August 9, 1945) another bomb was dropped on a Japanese city, Nagasaki, killing approximately 70,000 people at Hiroshima and 40,000 at Nagasaki. The nuclear genie cannot be put back in its bottle. Now that countries have nuclear weapons we must learn how to avoid their use. Countries that posses nuclear weapons are United States, Great Britain, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel. Countries that are thought to have them are Iraq, Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

A picture of what it would look like if a nuclear bomb was detonated.

• thousands of humans would be immediately vapourized
• tens of thousands would die of burns and other injuries in the following few days
• people in a wide region would be exposed to high levels of radiation
• millions of people would suffer from radiation sicknesses and radiation - induced cancer for years and decades after