§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 30 June 1999,Official Report, column 157, on the Chemical Weapons Convention, under what circumstances depleted uranium may be defined as a chemical weapon for the purposes of the Chemical Weapons Convention. [91763]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThe use of depleted uranium ammunition is not prohibited under any international agreement, including the Geneva Convention, and there are no circumstances under which such ammunition may be defined as a chemical weapon. Article II of the 475W Chemical Weapons Convention includes definition of chemical weapons as munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of the chemicals specified. Depleted uranium ammunition is designed to penetrate Main Battle Tank armour, or when used in the Royal Navy's Vulcan Phalanx close-in-weapons-system to penetrate incoming missiles, and so is not defined as a chemical weapon.