Countries around the world are hurrying to comply with the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which went into effect in April. The treaty, signed by 167 countries and fully in effect in 104 of them, requires the countries that take part to disclose their chemical weapons stockpiles, get rid of them, close down the plants where they were made, and submit to rigorous international inspections. Some of the ingredients to be banned are obscure substances that have no known use except to sicken or kill plants, animals and people. But others are the basic ingredients of everything from fertilizer to makeup and ink. No country can do without chemicals such as phosphorus, chlorine and sulfur, said weapons expert Amy Smithson of the nonprofit Stimson Institute, a defense think tank in Washington.
Biological weapons are even harder to control.
A treaty that bans their use has been on the books since 1972. But experts say it's toothless because it doesn't make any provisions for enforcement. It's only when you get to the weapon-building stage that you can tell the difference. And even then it's impossible to tell by satellite surveillance. The club of nations suspected of making biological weapons is confined to Asia and the Middle East.