At one point in history, a soldier in combat would have been injured with a bow and arrow. That bow and arrow eventually became a bullet, and in the 1890s, that bullet evolved into the ‘dum-dum bullet,’ designed to expand on impact and inflict severe injury. Because of its potential to gravely wound combatants, The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of the dum-dum bullet in international warfare.

A century later, landmines, designed to maim and injure, rather than kill, were deemed indiscriminate weapons with potential to inflict serious injury. After a high-profile campaign waged by a coalition of non-governmental organizations, 162 countries signed the 1997 Ottawa Treaty pledging to stop their production and use.

Today, a far more dangerous weapon in use on the battlefield – the improvised explosive device or IED – needs to join the ranks of prohibited weapons, according to an international research team led by Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry Surgery professors Shane Smith and Vivian McAlister. The group’s study of the weapon and its impact – Injury profile suffered by targets of antipersonnel improvised explosive devices: prospective cohort study – was published last month in the journal BMJ Open.