Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) initiated an extensive
biological weapons (BW) program in Iraq in the early 1980s, in violation of the
Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1972. Details of the BW program—along with
a chemical weapons program—surfaced only in the wake of the
Gulf War (1990–91) following investigations conducted by the
United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) which had been charged with the post-war disarmament of Saddam's Iraq. By the end of the war, program scientists had investigated the BW potential of five bacterial strains, one fungal strain, five types of virus, and four
toxins. Of these, three—
anthrax,
botulinum and
aflatoxin—had proceeded to weaponization for deployment. Because of the UN disarmament program that followed the war, more is known today about the once-secret bioweapons program in Iraq than that of any other nation.