ALTHOUGH the threat to Ireland from military chemical weapons is quite low, such a threat might come from a terror organisation or from old chemical ammunitions being washed ashore, a conference on chemical emergencies heard yesterday.
Comdt Peter Daly, of the Army Ordnance Corps, told the Southern Health Board conference in Cork that many substances which could be considered chemical agents were available. Factors which determined the military suitability of a chemical substance were the ease of manufacture, ease of storage, stability in storage, control over dosage, weapon delivery systems and the temperature at which the weapon would be used.
While chemical weapons could be used at any time in 24 hours, said Comdt Daly, an understanding of the effects of the weather on such weapons would assist defensive measures before an attack. It would also help to estimate when the agent was likely to arrive following an attack.
Under stable conditions, he added, chemical agent clouds would flow over rolling terrain and down valleys. Dangerous concentrations would persist in hollows, low ground and depressions. Chemical clouds would tend to go around more prominent features, such as hills, while rough ground, such as that covered with tall grass and scrub, would slow the cloud. Areas covered with vegetation would be more easily contaminated with liquid agents than barren ground.
He said while snow tended to wash chemical agents from the air, pick up on boots and vehicles from contaminated snow could be 20 times higher than from normal terrain.
After more than 20 years of negotiations, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, was signed in January 1993 by 127 countries, including Ireland, said Comdt Daly.
As of June 1995, 159 states had signed the convention and 46 had now ratified it. However, only 29 countries had deposited their instrument of ratification with the Secretary General of the United Nations. It would require ratification by 65 countries before the treaty would come into force. To date, he added, Ireland had not prepared any ratification instrument for consideration by the Oireachtas.
Even if the convention succeeded in removing chemical weapons from the arsenals of all countries, which was doubtful, said Comdt Daly, the weapons could still be used by terrorists.
He concluded: "The residue of decades of chemical weapon production still remains to be disposed of and represents an enormous ongoing environmental hazard. For the foreseeable future, the chemical weapon will continue, like the Sword of Damocles, to hang over the head of civilised society. We must plan to address this hazard and to defend ourselves from potential attack, from whatever source."
