Chemicals used by police forces around the world 'violate the basic norm' of the chemical weapons treaty, according to Julian Perry Robinson, codirector of the Harvard- Sussex programme on chemical and biological warfare. He was speaking in London last month at the British Pugwash Group's public discussion on Britain and unconventional terrorism.

Perry Robinson described 'anti-terrorist chemical weapons' as a 'whole new category of non-lethal weapons in which investment is growing'. He pointed to examples such as CR (dibenz-1,4-oxazepine), a riot control agent that causes temporary blindness, and to the opioid gas deployed by Russian special forces to end last year's theatre siege in Moscow.

'What hope is there in a world that is legitimising the use of counter-terrorist weapons', he asked.

Robinson also voiced his concerns about the possibility of terrorists targeting the chemical industry. His fears arose from a US study based on figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

According to Robinson, the US assumptions 'make one feel extremely alarmed for the safety of the chemical industry'. 

ED