非洲民族議會

生物戰(biological warfare)，亦稱細菌戰（germ warfare）。

指軍事上使用致病的物質，如細菌（包括引起炭疽和肉毒中毒）和病毒等，以及對抗這些致病物的方法。1925年日內瓦協定禁止在戰爭中使用生物武器，1972年七十多個國家簽訂生物和有毒武器條約，禁止生產、貯存或研製生物武器，並要求銷燬現有的存貨。禁止的原因是為了避免對這些物質失去控制，據說1347年在圍攻克裡米亞的卡法時曾發生過這種失控情況，當時蒙古人將鼠疫患者的屍體投進熱那亞保衛者的城牆，後來熱那亞人的船將細菌帶到歐洲，造成黑死病的爆發流行。法國和印第安人戰爭中的英國人，以及19世紀的美國軍隊都曾將天花病人用過的毯子給了美洲印第安人。第一次世界大戰中，德國曾使羅馬尼亞騎兵的戰馬和美國的牲畜感染鼻疽病。1930年代，日本人曾用生物武器來對付中國。雖然國際禁止生產和使用，但一些國家如伊朗、伊拉克、俄羅斯和其他前蘇聯國家據說仍囤積了許多生物戰製劑。

English version：

biological warfare

Military use of disease-producing agents,such as bacteria (including those that cause anthrax and botulism) and viruses,and the means for combating such agents. A 1925 Geneva protocol prohibited the use of biological agents in warfare,and in 1972 more than 70 countries signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention,prohibiting the production,stockpiling,or development of biological weapons and requiring the destruction of existing stockpiles. One reason for the ban is to prevent an agent's escaping from control,as is said to have happened at the siege of Caffa in the Crimea in 1347,when the Mongols hurled the bodies of plague victims over the walls of the Genoese defenders and Genoese ships later carried the bacillus to Europe,causing the Black Death. The British in the French and Indian War,and U.S. Army units in the 19th century,gave blankets used by smallpox victims to American Indians. In World War I the Germans infected Romanian cavalry horses and U.S. livestock with the bacterial disease glanders. The Japanese used biological agents against China in the 1930s. Despite the international ban,a number of nations,including Iran,Iraq,and Russia and other former Soviet states,are believed to retain stocks of biological-warfare agents.