Editing Saxitoxin (section)

== Military interest ==
{{See also|United States biological weapons program}}
Saxitoxin, by virtue of its extremely low LD<sub>50</sub>, readily lends itself to weaponization. In the past, it was considered for military use by the United States and was developed as a [[chemical weapon]] by the [[United States Armed Forces|US military]].<ref name="Terrorism Response Handbook">{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Charles Edward|title=Weapons of Mass Casualties and Terrorism Response Handbook|date=2006|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning|isbn=978-0-7637-2425-2|page=175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZnXZfwWwgcC&pg=PA175|access-date=4 May 2015}}</ref> It is known that saxitoxin was developed for both overt military use as well as for covert purposes by the [[CIA]].<ref name="Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents">{{Cite book |title=Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents |volume=1 |page=7 |url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol1/html/ChurchV1_0006b.htm |series=[[Church Committee]] Reports |publisher=The Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC) |year=1975–1976}}</ref> Among weapons stockpiles were M1 munitions that contained either saxitoxin, [[botulinum toxin]] or a mixture of both.<ref name="Deadly Cultures">{{cite book|last1=Wheelis|first1=Mark|last2=Rozsa|first2=Lajós|last3=Dando|first3=Malcolm|title=Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons since 1945|date=2006|publisher=President and Fellows of Harvard College|isbn=978-0-674-01699-6|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fj7aU0qzTLYC&pg=PA39|access-date=4 May 2015}}</ref> On the other hand, the CIA is known to have issued a small dose of saxitoxin to U-2 spy plane pilot [[Francis Gary Powers]] in the form of a small injection hidden within a silver dollar, for use in the event of his capture and detainment.<ref name="Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents" /><ref name="Deadly Cultures" />

After the 1969 ban on [[biological warfare]] by President [[Nixon]], the US stockpiles of saxitoxin were destroyed, and development of saxitoxin as a military weapon ceased.<ref name="America's Struggle">{{cite book|last1=Mauroni|first1=Albert J.|title=America's Struggle with Chemical-biological Warfare|date=2000|publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881|isbn=978-0-275-96756-7|page=50|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiSL-7ghCWwC&pg=PA50|access-date=4 May 2015}}</ref> In 1975, the CIA reported to Congress that it had kept a small amount of saxitoxin and [[cobra]] venom against Nixon's orders which was then destroyed or distributed to researchers.<ref name="Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents" />

It is listed in [[List of Schedule 1 substances (CWC)|schedule 1]] of the [[Chemical Weapons Convention]]. The United States military isolated saxitoxin and assigned it the [[chemical weapon designation]] ''TZ''.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) | url=https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/SAB/en/sab-21-wp04_e_.pdf | date = June 2014 | title= Saxitoxin fact sheet}}</ref>