Opened for Signature: June 17, 1925
Entered into Force: February 8, 1928
Ratified by the US: January 22, 1975
The Geneva Protocol is also known as the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. It restated the prohibition on use of poisonous gases previously laid down by the Versailles and Washington treaties and added a ban on bacteriological warfare. When they ratified or acceded to the protocol, some nations — including the United Kingdom, France, and the USSR — declared that it would cease to be binding on them if their enemies, or the allies of their enemies, failed to respect the prohibitions of the protocol. The American position is that the protocol does not apply to the use in war of riot-control agents and herbicides.
