§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) which categories of gas it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to treat as exempt from the Geneva Protocol of 1925;
(2) whether it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to treat as exempt from the Geneva Protocol of 1925 all gases less toxic than smoke screens;
(3) whether it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to treat as exempt from the Geneva Protocol of 1925 all gases less toxic than CN;
(4) which gases other than CS it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to treat as exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
§ Mr. LuardI would refer to the reply my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs gave my hon. Friend on 2nd February, in which Her Majesty's Government's position on CS in relation to the 1925 Geneva Protocol was clarified. We regard the use in war of CN as being prohibited by the Geneva Protocol. We would regard as outside the scope of the Geneva Protocol any gases which, like CS, were considered to be not significantly harmful to man in other than wholly exceptional circumstances.—[Vol. 795, c. 17–18.]
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§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, in view of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, it is his policy to permit the use of CS or any other gas for controlling civil disturbances.
§ Mr. LuardThe 1925 Geneva Protocol deals only with the use in war of the substances with which it is concerned.