A Higher Form of Killing
On 22 April 1915, the Germans launched the first gas attack against the allies at Ypres. It was, said its inventor, a higher form of killing'. By 1918 it had claimed the lives of 100,000 men. Sixty years later the world has developed nerve gases many thousand times more powerful. The Russians and the Americans have enormous stockpiles - and the British Government is currently considering whether we too should go back into chemical warfare.
Tonight Jeremy Paxman investigates the continued development of one of the most feared of all weapons.
Researcher ROBERT HARRIS Producer MICHAEL HOGAN
Deputy editor ELWYN PARRY JONES Editor ROGER BOLTON