The United States ended the destruction of all chemical weapons reserves this Friday.It’s a milestone “one step closer to a world free from horror” of such weapons, according to President Joe Biden.
The last two warehouses were in Pueblo County, Colorado and eastern Kentucky, which contained about 2,600 tons of mustard gas in about 780,000 ammo. The first also destroyed its last weapons in June, and the second, called the Blue Grass Army Depot, was completed today. The latter originally contained 523 tons of sarin, mustard and VX gas in projectiles and rockets.
“The United States has worked tirelessly for over 30 years to eliminate its stockpile of chemical weapons. Today, I am proud to announce that it has safely destroyed the last of its ammunition,” Biden said in a statement. Democratic president stressed successive administrations had decided that such weapons should not be developed or deployed any further..
He stressed that the complete destruction of the arsenal not only fulfills the commitment made by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which firmly vetoed their development, production, storage, transfer and use, but also “confirms for the first time by an international organization”. destruction of an entire category of weapons declared mass destruction.” “I thank the thousands of Americans who have devoted their time and talent to this noble and challenging task.”
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken later said that the destruction of stockpiles of such weapons by the United States demonstrates “the vital role of international cooperation and transparency in arms control and disarmament”. He also recalled that this “success” explains the “threat of possession, development and use of chemical weapons”.
The Chemical Weapons Convention came into force in 1997 and authorizes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “to eradicate the chemical weapons scourge forever and to verify destruction within set deadlines,” according to its website. The OPCW states that 193 States are party to the Convention and 98% of the world’s population lives under the protection of the Convention.
“Russia and Syria should return to comply with the Convention and accept their undeclared programs.which has been used to commit atrocities and defiant attacks. (…) Together with our partners, we will not stop until we finally and forever rid the world of this scourge.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes on its website that the US produced chemical weapons from World War I (1914-1918) to 1968 as a deterrent against similar weapons used by other countries. These weapons reached approximately 40,000 tons in the United States at the end of the sixties and were stored in a total of 9 warehouses in different parts of the country. The CDC adds that although they have never been used on the battlefield, they have become outdated and deteriorated over time.