Latest news with #GenevaProtocol
LeMonde
29-05-2025
- Health
- LeMonde
In Japan, newly released archives reveal the scale of human experimentation between 1938 and 1945
Service records of officers and soldiers before Japan's defeat in 1945, made public on May 15 by the country's National Archives, revealed that some were assigned to secret units in China: one in Nanjing, identified as Unit 1,644, and another in Guangzhou, numbered 8,604. The military personnel in these units reportedly conducted bacteriological experiments on human subjects. Until now only Unit 731, located near Harbin – now in China's Heilongjiang province and then the capital of Manchukuo, a puppet state controlled by Tokyo – was known for carrying out such activities from 1938 until the end of World War II. "The service records confirm the existence in China of a network of units conducting these experiments and coordinating their activities," explained Katsuo Nishiyama, emeritus professor at Shiga University of Medical Science and a specialist in Japan's imperial-era biological weapons programs. Units 1,644 and 8,604 − with the one in Nanjing being the largest − were overseen, like Unit 731, by the Tokyo-based Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. Their primary activity reportedly involved experimenting on humans to enable Japan to develop biological weapons, in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting chemical and biological weapons.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia arms 'kamikaze' drones with chemical weapons, Ukraine says
Russian forces have deployed Shahed-type "kamikaze" drones carrying toxic substances to attack Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said on April 16. Russia has been intensifying its use of chemical agents on the battlefield in Ukraine, with Kyiv recording over 6,000 cases of use of munitions containing hazardous chemicals between February 2023 and 2025. A capsule with CS gas, a riot control agent, has been found in one of the Russian drones, the center said, adding it had verified the information with Ukraine's security services and the State Emergency Service. CS gas, also referred to as tear gas, is typically used as a crowd-control agent by law enforcement agencies around the world and is less lethal than other chemical weapons. Its battlefield use is nevertheless banned under the 1925 Geneva Protocol. "Russian forces may scatter the capsules with poisonous substances to cause harm," the center said on Telegram. At the same time, the agency noted that claims circulating in the media that the drones themselves are coated with poisonous substances have not been confirmed. Since the beginning of the all-out war, Ukraine's radiation, chemical, and biological intelligence units have been monitoring and recording the use of hazardous chemicals in attacks. Ukraine struck back at Russia's use of illegal chemical weapons in December 2024, when the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) assassinated Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical, and biological defense troops. Read also: Can civilian areas ever be legitimate military targets? We asked an expert We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
