Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on riot control agents in connection to the Chemical Weapons Convention

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 8; no. 73; pp. 41731 - 41739
• Main Authors: Timperley, Christopher M, Forman, Jonathan E, Åas, Pal, Abdollahi, Mohammad, Benachour, Djafer, Al-Amri, Abdullah Saeed, Baulig, Augustin, Becker-Arnold, Renate, Borrett, Veronica, Cariño, Flerida A, Curty, Christophe, Gonzalez, David, Geist, Michael, Kane, William, Kovarik, Zrinka, Martínez-Álvarez, Roberto, Mikulak, Robert, Fusaro Mourão, Nicia Maria, Neffe, Slawomir, De Souza Nogueira, Evandro, Ramasami, Ponnadurai, Raza, Syed K, Rubaylo, Valentin, Saeed, Ahmed E. M, Takeuchi, Koji, Tang, Cheng, Trifirò, Ferruccio, Mauritz van Straten, Francois, Suárez, Alejandra G, Waqar, Farhat, Vanninen, Paula S, Zafar-Uz-Zaman, Mohammad, Vu ini, Slavica, Zaitsev, Volodymyr, Zina, Mongia Saïd, Holen, Stian, Izzati, Fauzia Nurul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 19.12.2018; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Biological & chemical weapons; Chemical weapons; Chemistry; Disarmament; humans; international policy and programs; Irritation; Organic chemistry; Prohibition; Riot control; surveys; toxicology
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c8ra08273a

Compounds that cause powerful sensory irritation to humans were reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in response to requests in 2014 and 2017 by the OPCW Director-General to advise which riot control agents (RCAs) might be subject to declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention (the "Convention"). The chemical and toxicological properties of 60 chemicals identified from a survey by the OPCW of RCAs that had been researched or were available for purchase, and additional chemicals recognised by the SAB as having potential RCA applications, were considered. Only 17 of the 60 chemicals met the definition of a RCA under the Convention. These findings were provided to the States Parties of the Convention to inform the implementation of obligations pertaining to RCAs under this international chemical disarmament and non-proliferation treaty. Chemicals that meet the criteria of a riot control agent as defined by the Chemical Weapons Convention (an international chemical disarmament and non-proliferation treaty) are reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.