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†
* Corresponding authors
a
OPCW Scientific Advisory Board Chair, 2015–2018, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
E-mail:
cmtimperley@dstl.gov.uk
b
Secretary to the OPCW Scientific Advisory Board and Science Policy Adviser, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), The Hague, The Netherlands
E-mail:
jonathan.forman@opcw.org
c Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Kjeller, Norway
d Toxicology and Diseases Group, The Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (TIPS), Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran
e LMPMP, Faculty of Technology, Ferhat Abbas University, Setif-1, Algeria
f Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
g Secrétariat Général de la Défense et de la Sécurité Nationale (SGDSN), Paris, France
h BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany
i BAI Scientific, Melbourne, Australia
j University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
k Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines
l Spiez Laboratory, Spiez, Switzerland
m Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
n Consultant to Monsanto Company, Louisiana, USA
o Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
p Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
q United States Department of State, Washington, D.C., USA
r ABIQUIM, Brazilian Chemical Industry Association, São Paulo, Brazil
s Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
t Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC), Brazilia, Brazil
u Computational Chemistry Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit 80837, Mauritius
v Institute of Pesticides Formulation Technology (IPFT), Gurugram, Haryana, India
w State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT), Moscow, Russian Federation
x Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan
y National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tokyo, Japan
z OPCW Scientific Advisory Board Vice-Chair, 2015–2018, Office for the Disposal of Japanese Abandoned Chemical Weapons, Ministry of National Defence, Beijing, China
aa Department of Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
ab South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Ltd., Pretoria, South Africa
ac Scientific Advisory Board Chair, 2014, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Consejo Nacional de Investaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rosario, Argentina
ad Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan
ae VERIFIN, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
af National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), Islamabad, Pakistan
ag National Poison Control Centre, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia
ah Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
ai Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
aj Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (FST), Tunis, Tunisia
ak Secretary to the OPCW Scientific Advisory Board, 2011–2015, OPCW, The Hague, The Netherlands
al Intern at the OPCW, The Hague, The Netherlands
Abstract
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.