FIVE POWERS VOTE TO OUTLAW GAS AS WAR WEAPON
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 7, 1922, "the five major naval powers...voted to outlaw (poisonous) gas as a weapon of war."
Representatives of these five nations, representing a committee formed by the Conference on the Limitations of Armament meeting here in Washington, adopted the Root Resolution inviting "all nations to the prohibition as a rule of international law."
This resolution, submitted by American representative Elihu Root, states...
"The (prohibition of the) use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous...gases, ...should be universally accepted as a part of international law."
According to the Imperial War Museums, "the first significant gas attack occurred at Ypres in April 1915 when the Germans released poisonous chlorine inflicting casualties on British and Canadian forces."
The British countered with their own gas attack at Loos in September 1915. Gases used during the world war included chlorine, mustard gas*, bromine and phosgene**.
*Mustard gas can cause large blisters on exposed skin & in the lungs resulting in prolonged illness & death.
**Phosgene may appear colorless or as a white to pale yellow cloud.
SOURCES
"Five Powers Put Ban on Gas Warfare," The New York Tribune, January 8, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"How Gas Became A Terror Weapon In The First World War," Imperial War Museums, www.iwm.org.uk/
