Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons

A group of US scientists called the Jasons developed "gravel mines" for use in the Vietnam war. Gravel mines were three inch cloth bags containing powder plus two plastic pellets. The device was undetectable to standard mine detectors, and the pellets were invisible to X-rays.

The only reason for the use of plastic was to prevent the detection and removal of splinters or pellets from the wounded.

Another American invention was napalm, a combustible that keeps burning you alive underwater. Although it was originally created at Harvard University, the government contracted Dow Chemicals to produce the sticky good in mass quantity for military use. Dow Chemicals came under scrutiny and was criticized heavily for its role in such a devastating weapon.

In 1980 there was a UN "Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects."

It comprises four protocols:

• Protocol I (1980) prohibits the use of any weapon whose primary effect is to injure with fragments undetectable by X-rays;
• Protocol II (1980) prohibits or restricts mines, traps and other devices;
• Protocol III (1980) prohibits or restricts weapons primarily designed to injure with flame or heat;
• and Protocol IV (1995) prohibits the use of laser weapons designed to cause permanent blindness.