"Smallpox probably was first used as a biological weapon during the French and Indian Wars (1754-1767) by British forces in North America. Soldiers distributed blankets that had been used by smallpox patients with the intent of initiating outbreaks among American Indians. Epidemics occurred, killing more than 50% of many affected tribes."
Journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 281, No.22, June 6, 1999

"Chemical weapons were used widely in World War I following their introduction by German forces at the beginning of 1915. The British and French were using them by the end of the year as well, and by the end of the war in 1918, roughly one-quarter of all shells fired contained chemical weapons. Some 100,000 people were killed and up to one million injured by gas attacks.

The 17 different gasses used in the war fell into three categories:

• Tearing agents, much like the tear gas used for personal defence or crowd control today
• Asphyxiants, designed to choke the enemy, against which gas masks offer some protection
• Blistering agents, such as mustard gas, which burns any exposed skin, lungs and eyes. Gas masks offer only very limited defence."
  BBC "Century of Biological and Chemical Weapons," 25 September, 2001

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"A post-World War II investigation revealed that the Japanese researched numerous organisms and used prisoners of war as research subjects. About 1,000 human autopsies apparently were carried out at Unit 731, mostly on victims exposed to aerosolized anthrax. Many more prisoners and Chinese nationals may have died in this facility - some have estimated up to 3,000 human deaths. The Japanese also apparently used biological agents in the field: after reported overflights by Japanese planes suspected of dropping plague-infected fleas, plague epidemics ensued in China and Manchuria. By 1945, the Japanese program had stockpiled 400 kilograms of anthrax to be used in a specially designed fragmentation bomb."
U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook, Fifth Edition, August 2004

"On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 A.M., Japanese time, a B-29 heavy bomber flying at high altitude dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. More than 4 square miles of the city were instantly and completely devastated. 66,000 people were killed, and 69,000 injured.

On August 9th, three days later, at 11:02 A.M., another B-29 dropped the second bomb on the industrial section of the city of Nagasaki, totally destroying 1 1/2 square miles of the city, killing 39,000 persons, and injuring 25,000 more.

On August 10, the day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese government requested that it be permitted to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam declaration of July 26th which it had previously ignored."
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School , "The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Introduction"

"In 1998 South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission held hearings investigating activities of the apartheid-era government. Toward the end of the hearings, the Commission looked into the apartheid regime's Chemical and Biological Warfare program and allegations that it developed a sterility vaccine to use on black South Africans, employed toxic and chemical poison weapons for political assassination, and in the late 1970's provided anthrax and cholera to Rhodesian troops for use against guerrilla rebels in their war to overthrow Rhodesia's white minority rule."
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) , "Plague War," October 13, 1998

"On March 16, 1988, an estimated 5,000 civilians were killed and 10,000 injured when Iraqi air forces bombarded Halabja with mustard and other poison gases. Thirteen years after the massacre, the people of Halabja still suffer from very high rates of serious diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects and miscarriages.

Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons attack on Halabja was not an isolated incident. It was part of a systematic campaign ordered by Saddam Hussein and led by his lieutenant, Ali Hassan al-Majid, the infamous 'Chemical Ali,' against Iraqi Kurdish civilians. International observers estimate Iraqi forces killed 50,000 to 100,000 people during the 1988 campaign known as 'Anfal' which means 'the spoils.'"
Richard Boucher "Anniversary of the Jalabja Massacre," U.S. Bureau of Public Affairs, March 16, 2001