Britannica Sources used in this answer

What did the Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925 ban in warfare?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

The Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925 is a landmark treaty in international law that prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare.1

Specifically, the protocol bans the use of the following in war:
* Asphyxiating gases1
* Poisonous gases1
* Other similar gases1
* Bacteriological methods of warfare1

It is essential to recognize that the use of such indiscriminate and inhumane weapons violates fundamental ethical principles regarding the protection of human life and the mitigation of unnecessary suffering in conflict. While the protocol established a vital moral and legal standard, it contained significant limitations: it did not prohibit the development, production, or stockpiling of these weapons, and many nations reserved the right to use them for retaliation. These gaps were later addressed by the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 and the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.1