The United States is completing the destruction of its stockpile of chemical weapons

The United States on Friday completed the destruction of its entire stockpile of chemical weapons, a milestone that President Joe Biden said brings “another step closer to a world without the horrors” of these weapons.

The last two deposits were in Pueblo County, Colorado, where there were 2600 tons of mustard gas in about 780,000 rounds, and in eastern Kentucky. The first destroyed the last weapon in June, and the second, called the Blue Grass Army Depot, was completed today. The latter originally contained 523 tons of sarin, mustard gas and VX gas in missiles and rockets

“The United States has worked tirelessly for more than 30 years to eliminate its chemical weapons arsenal. Today I am proud to announce that you have certainly destroyed the last of the ammunition in that stockpile,” Biden said in a statement. The Democratic president emphasized that successive administrations have decided that these weapons should not be further developed or used.

The complete destruction of the arsenal, he emphasized, not only fulfills the obligation acquired by s Chemical Weapons Convention, which precisely vetoes their development, production, storage, transfer and use, but “the first time that an international organization verifies the destruction of an entire category of weapons declared for mass destruction”. “I thank the thousands of Americans who have given their time and talent to this noble and challenging mission,” added Biden, who called on countries that have not ratified the convention to do so so that a global veto on those weapons “can reach their full potential.”

for his part, Secretary of State Antony Blinken Later in the statement, he pointed out that the destruction of stocks of this type of weapons by the US represents “the vital role of international cooperation and transparency in arms control and disarmament.”

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997 and, according to its website, gave Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “a mandate to eradicate forever the scourge of chemical weapons and to verify the destruction, within established deadlines, of declared stockpiles of chemical weapons.” The OPCW specifies that 193 states have committed to the Convention and that 98% of the world’s population lives under its protection.

“Russia and Syria should return to compliance with the Convention and acknowledge their undeclared programs, which were used to commit brazen attacks and crimes. (…) Together with our partners, we will not stop until we finally and forever rid the world of this scourge,” Biden emphasized.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out on its website that the United States produced chemical weapons from World War I (1914-1918) until 1968 as a deterrent against similar weapons used by other countries. These weapons reached almost 40,000 tons in the United States by the end of the sixties and were stored in a total of 9 warehouses in different parts of the country. Although they were never used on the battlefield, the CDC adds, they became obsolete and deteriorated over time.