In the USA, around 127 tons were still waiting to be destroyed.
(Photo: dpa)
Washington The United States has destroyed the last stockpiles of its chemical weapons, according to a top US Senator. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Friday that the last of the officially known highly toxic warfare agents in the United States had been eliminated – a milestone a good 26 years after the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Chemical weapons are responsible for some of the world’s most horrifying human casualties, said McConnell, who has spearheaded the eradication of these weapons during his tenure. “Though the use of these deadly warfare agents will always remain a blot on history, today our nation has finally made good on its pledge to rid our arsenal of this evil.” McConnell is a senator in the US state of Kentucky, where the weapons destruction facility is located.
In 1997, the 193 states party to the Chemical Weapons Convention committed to reporting and destroying all stocks of their chemical weapons and not to using chemical weapons. The Chemical Weapons Prohibition Control Authority (OPCW), based in The Hague, controls their enforcement. More than 70,000 tons of the deadliest weapons such as mustard gas and sarin have been destroyed since 1997. In the USA, around 127 tons were still waiting to be destroyed.
Many of the most shocking attacks on humans are due to chemical weapons. In the past ten years, Syrian government troops have repeatedly used banned warfare agents in the civil war. If chemical weapons are suspected to have been used in conflicts, the OPCW sends investigators to the country concerned. The authority also regularly inspects the chemical industry in contracting states. States that have not signed the convention include North Korea, Israel, Egypt and South Sudan. The OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its work.
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