The International Committee of the Red Cross has led protests by medical and human rights groups at plans by the US to deploy tear gas and pepper spray to the Gulf.

Senior officials in the ICRC, which champions legal rights for soldiers and civilians in wartime, warn that using these "riot control agents" would violate the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

Peter Herby, an arms and mines control specialist with the ICRC, said: "We can say quite categorically that the use of chemical agents, whether riot control agents or lethal agents, in warfare would be entirely prohibited."

Their protests, which follow The Independent on Sunday's disclosure last week that US troops could use CS gas and pepper spray in the Gulf, were supported by the British Medical Association and the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists.

They claimed that using even CS gas would undermine the prohibition on using chemical and biological weapons in war, and would be exploited by rogue states to justify their use of more dangerous weapons.

In the Commons, four senior Labour MPs have tabled questions asking the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and the Defense Secretary, Geoff Hoon, whether the Government had objected to the US plans. British officials also believe the use of CS gas in war would be illegal.

But, in a letter to the IoS, a senior Pentagon official insisted the use of tear gas for "defensive purposes to save lives" and to "protect non-combatants" would be "consistent" with the convention.

Victoria Clarke, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, denied allegations from a senior US military expert and Gulf War veteran that US special forces could use "knock out" gases.

The US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said using tear gas against human shields or to pacify prisoners would be justified – claims disputed by international legal experts.

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

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