Legal Constraints on Biological Weapons - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 329

CHAPTER 16
Legal Constraints on
Biological Weapons
NICHOLAS A. SIMS
This chapter traces developments in legal constraints on bi-
ological weapons (BW) since 1945 and identifies legal issues of continu-
ing relevance in biological disarmament diplomacy. It is a story of expan-
sion both in constraints and in the number of states legally bound by
those constraints. However, it is not a story of uninterrupted progress.
Obstacles have had to be surmounted along the way, and there remains
much work to be done in consolidating and universalizing the legal con-
straints on BW, in order to reinforce the humanitarian, ethical, political,
and technological constraints that also constitute bulwarks against the
threat of their use.
The chapter begins with a thematic outline of the two main categories
of legal constraints and their convergence. It continues with a historical
account woven around these two categories of constraint. It concludes
with an examination of outstanding issues.
Categories of Legal Constraint
Legal constraints on BW fall neatly into two main categories: constraints
on use and constraints on possession.
Constraints on Use
Constraints on use of BW are much longer established in international
law than constraints on possession. The Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925
prohibited, as between the High Contracting Parties to that agreement,
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