President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the United States has completely destroyed its decades-old stockpile of chemical weapons, a milestone that marks the end of all known stockpiles of agents of mass death around the world. Appreciated for elimination.
“Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munitions in its stockpile – bringing us one step closer to a world free of the horrors of chemical weapons,” Biden said. “
The United States was among the last signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997, to complete the task of destroying its “declared” stockpiles, although some states are believed to have secret stockpiles of chemical weapons. Maintains.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons called the milestone a “historic achievement” for disarmament, more than a century after the uncontrolled use of chemical gases during World War I caused mass deaths and maiming of soldiers. After
The OPCW said the US announcement meant that all of the world’s declared stockpiles of chemical weapons had been “confirmed to be irretrievably destroyed.”
“I take this opportunity to congratulate all States Parties, and the United States of America, on this great achievement for the international community,” said OPCW Director General Fernando Arias.
Biden said it was the first time that “an entire category of weapons of mass destruction” had been confirmed destroyed.
Lethal mustard gas, sarin, VX
The announcement came after Bluegrass Army Depot, a U.S. military facility in Kentucky, recently completed its four-year mission to dispose of nearly 500 tons of the deadly chemical agent, the last shipment the U.S. military has.
The US had stockpiled artillery and rockets containing mustard gases, VX and sarin nerve agents and blister agents for decades.
Such weapons were widely condemned after their use, with dire consequences in World War I.
They were not used significantly in World War II, but many countries retained and developed them in later years.
The most prominent use after the 1970s was the nerve gas attacks on Iran during the Iraq War in the 1980s.
More recently, according to the OPCW and other bodies, the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against opponents during the country’s civil war.
Doubly dangerous work
The Chemical Weapons Convention, agreed in 1993 and coming into force in 1997, gave the United States until September 30 of that year to destroy all its chemical agents and munitions.
According to the OPCW, other signatories to the agreement had already liquidated their holdings – a total of about 72,000 tonnes since the agreement entered into force.
According to the US Arms Control Association, in 1990 the United States possessed about 28,600 tons of chemical weapons, the second largest stockpile in the world after Russia.
With the end of the Cold War, the superpowers and other nations came together to negotiate the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Decommissioning the stockpile, doubly dangerous because it meant neutralizing not only the chemical agents but also the munitions they contained, was a slow process.
Russia completed destroying its declared stockpile in 2017.
As of April 2022, the U.S. has less than 600 tons left to destroy.
Biden called for the destruction of all chemical weapons worldwide and for the four countries that have not signed or ratified the treaty – Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan. Demanded constant vigilance.
Currently four signatory countries are not considered to be in compliance on suspicion of undeclared stockpiling: Myanmar, Iran, Russia and Syria.
“Russia and Syria must return to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and recognize their undeclared programs, which have been used for brazen atrocities and attacks,” Biden said.
