# is the use of "white phosphorus" illegal in war? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683 "2006-10-24T06:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/1 "2006-10-24T06:05:47Z")
according to the Geneva-conventions? I’m talking about using it against military personal like in Falluja and Lebanon ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/2 "2006-10-24T06:07:56Z")
and is it labeled as a Chemical weapon? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/3 "2006-10-24T06:12:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Use of white phosphorus against military targets (outside civilian areas) is not specifically banned by any treaty. However, there is a non-binding debate on whether white phosphorus should be considered a chemical weapon and thus be outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which went into effect in April of 1997 . [Wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon)) First hit under “white phosphorus” on Google. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/4 "2006-10-24T06:15:17Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] . [Wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_(weapon)) First hit under “white phosphorus” on Google. [/QUOTE] yes I know but the article is unclear ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/5 "2006-10-24T06:28:22Z")
> [@](#): > > ## is the use of “white phosphorus” illegal in war? > > according to the Geneva-conventions? Maybe I’m missing something, but > [@](#): > > Use of white phosphorus against military targets (outside civilian areas) **is not specifically banned by any treaty** seems like it answers your question. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/6 "2006-10-24T06:36:27Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] Maybe I’m missing something, but seems like it answers your question. [/QUOTE] the problem is that some claime it is and other that it ain’t ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/7 "2006-10-24T06:41:14Z")
Gosh, I hope not, or I will have to take the protections offered to me under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, Senator. In any case, if you read deep enough into these sort of arguments eventually fall into ‘it is illegal to use against civilians’ Well, ‘Duh!’ it is illegal to use any weapon against civilians. The Soviets (IIRC) used to call WP a chemical weapon, apparently to indicate that they could use nerve gas with the same aplomb we use WP. For us Americans, it is a pretty standard thing. A battery will usually hit a target with three rounds of High Explosive and three of WP. It works pretty well. WP kills by burning, not by poisoning. In my mind that makes it an explosive, not a chemical weapon. Too many people are using this sudden discovery of WP as a stick to advance their pre-concived political notions. It is a good and fair question, but it seems hard to find reasonable discussion of it on the net. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![drillrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-use-of-white-phosphorus-illegal-in-war/377683/8 "2006-10-24T07:46:42Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] WP kills by burning, not by poisoning. In my mind that makes it an explosive, not a chemical weapon. [/QUOTE] That, in a nutshell, is the position of the US Govenment. The lethal effect of WP is not due to it’s poisonous or toxic properties, but rather to it’s other effects. It may be a fine line to distinguish, but we are talking about treaties and they are all about fine lines and shades of definitions. Personally, I agree that the US position is consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention.