Planet in Peril: An Atlas of Current Threats to People and the Environment

and poor drawn between military weapons, which require large-scale industrial facilities, and toxic agents that can be synthesised in small quantities in an ordinary laboratory. 30 000 40 000

United States USSR

(Russia from 1992)

United Kingdom France and China

20 000

Over the last 15 years western coun- tries, apart from the US, have started reducing the size of their chemical and biological stockpile. But at the same time some developing countries have started upgrading their weapons, increasing their strategic value. Egypt and Yemen used poison gas in the 1960s. In 1988 Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against the Kurds prompted other countries in the area, in parti- cular Iran, Syria and Israel, to acquire such weapons. Moscow’s policy in this respect is a source of concern. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 Russia kept about 40,000 tonnes of chemical materials, accounting for two-thirds of the total worldwide. Through official sales or contraband it has become a key centre for their dissemination. The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1977, bans their deve- lopment, production and storage,

10 000

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 0 2005 5 000

Sources: Federation of American Scientists (FAS); Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists .

Changes in nuclear stockpile

except for peaceful purposes. Howe- ver in 2001 the US opposed plans to introduce stricter controls for enfor- cement of the treaty. The 1993 Che- mical Weapons Convention bans the development, production and storage of chemical weapons. Dirty bombs, which combine con- ventional explosives and radioactive materials to contaminate the largest possible area, are themost likely vector for deliberate nuclear pollution by a terrorist group. These devices have not so far been used, so they do not count as WMDs, but they are nevertheless among the weapons terrorist groups might use.

On the web

> Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): www.opcw.org > International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): www.iaea.org > Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/ > United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR): www.unidir.org > Centre for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS): www.cns.miis.edu

Longstanding nuclear powers

Recent nuclear powers

Countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons

A black square represents about 100 nuclear warheads

Sources: Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI); Federation of American Scientists (FAS); Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science (EFNS); Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ; The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The real nuclear powers in 2005

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