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6.8.1 Poison and Poisoned Weapons. It is especially forbidden to use poison or poisonedweapons. 166 For example, poisoning the enemy’s food or water supply is prohibited. 167Similarly, adding poison to weapons is prohibited. The rule against poison and poisonedweapons reflected in the 1899 Hague II Regulations has been interpreted not to include poisongas weapons that were developed during the modern era, which were subsequently prohibited. 168Poisons are understood to be substances that cause death or disability with permanenteffects when, in even small quantities, they are ingested, enter the lungs or bloodstream, or touchthe skin. 169The longstanding prohibition against poison is based on: (1) their uncontrolled character;(2) the inevitability of death or permanent disability; and (3) the traditional belief that it istreacherous to use poison. 1706.8.1.1 Designed to Injure by Poison. This prohibition on poison applies toweapons that are designed to injure or kill by poison. It does not apply to weapons that injure orcause destruction by other means that also produce toxic byproducts. 1716.8.1.2 Death or Permanent Disability to Persons. The prohibition on usingpoison applies to use against human beings. 172 Thus, the prohibition on the use of poison has166 See HAGUE IV REG. art. 23(a) (it is especially forbidden “[t]o employ poison or poisoned weapons;”); 1899HAGUE II REG. art. 23(a) (same); LIEBER CODE art. 16 (military necessity “does not admit of the use of poison in anyway,”); LIEBER CODE art. 70 (“The use of poison in any manner, be it to poison wells, or food, or arms, is whollyexcluded from modern warfare. He that uses it puts himself out of the pale of the law and usages of war.”).167 1958 UK MANUAL 112 (“Water in wells, pumps, pipes, reservoirs, lakes, rivers, and the like, from which theenemy may draw drinking water, must not be poisoned or contaminated. The poisoning or contamination of water isnot made lawful by posting up a notice informing the enemy that the water has been thus polluted. There is,however, no rule to prevent measures being taken to dry up springs and to divert rivers and aqueducts.”).168 WILLIAM H. BOOTHBY, WEAPONS AND THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT 122 (2009) (“The Hague PeaceConference of 1899 tackled the problem [of poison gas attacks]. The delegates at that conference made no directassociation between poison, which they considered to be an ancient and barbarous form of warfare, and poison gas,which was seen as a novel weapon the product of scientific advance.”).169 1976 AIR FORCE PAMPHLET 110-31 6-4f (“Poisons are biological or chemical substances causing death ordisability with permanent effects when, in even small quantities, they are ingested, enter the lungs or bloodstream, ortouch the skin.”).170 1976 AIR FORCE PAMPHLET 110-31 6-4f (“The longstanding customary prohibition against poison is based ontheir uncontrolled character and the inevitability of death or permanent disability as well as on a traditional beliefthat it is treacherous to use poison.”).171 Written Statement of the Government of the United States of America, 24, Jun. 20, 1995, I.C.J., Request by theUnited Nations General Assembly for an Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of NuclearWeapons (“This prohibition was established with particular reference to projectiles that carry poison into the body ofthe victim. It was not intended to apply, and has not been applied, to weapons that are designed to injure or causedestruction by other means, even though they also may create toxic byproducts. For example, the prohibition onpoison weapons does not prohibit conventional explosives or incendiaries, even though they may produce dangerousfumes. By the same token, it does not prohibit nuclear weapons, which are designed to injure or cause destructionby means other than poisoning the victim, even though nuclear explosions may also create toxic radioactivebyproducts.”).344