Chemical warfare is warfare using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate the enemy. Chemical warfare is distinct from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive force. The offensive use of living organisms or their toxic products (such as anthrax or botulin toxin) is not considered chemical warfare: their use is instead labelled biological warfare. Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction by the United Nations, and their production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1618: Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler)
1702: Princess Anne of the House of Stuart became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain)
1782: Almost 100 Native Americans died in the hands of Pennsylvanian militiamen in a mass murder known as the Gnadenhütten massacre. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten_massacre)
1844: Oscar I acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_I_of_Sweden)
1966: In Dublin, Ireland, Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a statue of Lord Nelson on top, was destroyed by a bomb. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%27s_Pillar)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes%2C_Jr.)