What do cooking pots and missiles have in common? Or toothpaste and chemical weapons? In both cases, a so-called dual-use item: the same machine tool can be used in the production of both pots and certain missile parts, while fluoride compounds, industrial chemicals that are needed to manufacture the deadly nerve agent sarin are also used in common bathroom products.
Cooking pots and toothpaste are harmless consumer products, but we want to strictly limit who can produce missiles and prevent the production of chemical weapons altogether. No wonder dual-use goods—those with both civilian and military applications—pose so many dilemmas for policymakers, export licensing authorities and frontline customs officers.
In the latest SIPRI Essay, Sibylle Bauer, Director of SIPRI's Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, demands: