Poland and weapons of mass destruction

During the Cold War, Poland had active programs for the development of weapons of mass destruction. Poland was also working with Russia to help eliminate the large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons developed by the Warsaw Pact countries. Poland ratified the Geneva Protocol on 4 February 1929.

Chemical weapons

Poland's chemical weapons production originates from before World War II. Prior to the outbreak of the war Poland had developed and stockpiled a large quantity of mustard gas, but never authorized its release during combat. After the war stockpiles of the agent were increased, and current estimates of remnants of these range from hundreds to thousands of tons. Other chemical agents that were stockpiled during the Cold War by Poland included lewisite, VX, sarin, soman, tabun, SN gas, CS gas, nitrogen mustard gas, phosgene, CN gas, BZ Gas, botulin, saxitoxin, and enterotoxin. After the fall of communism Poland greatly reduced its weapons stockpiles, and undertook a proactive program of disarmament. Poland ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention on 23 August 1995. In 2004 during the G8 Summit the Polish-Russian agreement in the sphere of chemical weapons destruction was reached. The chemical weapons agreement will assist Russia in disposing of its lewisite stockpiles.

Biological weapons

The extent of Poland's biological weapons production is unclear, although research was done by both the military and communist regime laboratories during the Cold War on...
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