90 Years After Their Use is Barred: U.S. to begin destroying chemical weapons stockpile
Inert simulated 155mm chemical munitions used for training are stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, Colorado. (AP / Brennan Linsley)
The United States is about to begin destroying its largest remaining stockpile of chemical-laden artillery shells. The Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado plans to start neutralizing 2,600 tons of aging mustard agent in March as the U.S. moves toward complying with a 1997 treaty banning all chemical weapons.
Pueblo has about 780,000 shells containing mustard agent, which can maim or kill, blistering skin, scarring eyes and inflaming airways.
After nightmarish gas attacks in World War I, a 1925 treaty barred the use of chemical weapons, and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention set a 2012 deadline to eradicate them. Four nations that acknowledged having chemical weapons have missed the deadline: the U.S., Russia, Libya and Iraq.
According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Libya expects to finish in 2016 and Russia in 2020, and the US will be finishing in 2023.
Notice you don't see this reported in the US news, but Canadian News thought it worthy to report.
Full Article: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-to-begin-destroying-chemical-weapons-stockpile-1.2219940
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The article makes that very plane. You'll also notice that the U.S. was still producing these weapons in the 1950s long after they had been barred.
You really think so?????
Hu Larry! How have you been?
I find it kind of interesting that we kept this stuff around for so long... I wonder if they had it in the back of their minds....hummmm... what if??????
I believe they have already destroyed the materials kept at the Bluegrass repository of chemical weapons in Lexington, KY. The only thing I know for sure about it is that I can't find it. But, I know it's there.
Hi Perrie, I'm doing well thank you for asking.
As far as our government and their retention of chemical weapons goes the weapons themselves were barred it 1925 and yet our government was still mass producing them in the 1950s so it comes as little surprise that they are still hoarding supplies 90 years after the fact. What really bothers me is this, does anyone really believe that the U.S. government has destroyed all of their nuclear weapons??????
There is a lake in a state park in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains where I sometimes go fishing and photographing along the trails Larry's article makes me wonder
Former Artillery Range
Tobyhanna State Park is one of the state lands carved from a large artillery training range that preceded Tobyhanna Army Depot . According to the Pennsylvania DCNR ,
Visitors using more remote and undeveloped areas of Tobyhanna State Park should be aware that they may encounter old, unexploded artillery shells.
Three types of shells have been found in the park. The largest projectile is 18 to 24 inches (460 to 610mm) in length and about 6 inches (150mm) in diameter. The medium projectile is 2.5 inches (64mm) in diameter and about 10 to 14 inches (250 to 360mm) in length. The smallest projectile is 3 inches (76mm) long and 1.25 inches (32mm) in diameter.
Shells are found in severely rusted condition without any recognizable markings or imprints. Their overall appearance is that of a pointed cylinder of rusted steel. Visitors encountering such items should not touch, attempt to move or otherwise disturb the items, and should call the park office and report the location to ensure proper disposal.
The usage of chemical weapons in warfare was outlawed after World War I, but most countries continued to manufacture them in case an opponent used them first. Mussolini utilized mustard gas on the Ethiopians in 1936 against which they had no defense. The Allies were certain Hitler would use them in WWII, but even he had an aversion to poison gas having been blinded for weeks by gas as an infantryman in WWI.
The Japanese had a large biological weapons program before and during WWII, killing thousands of Chinese civilians (including children) in experiments carried out in the infamous Unit 731 right up until the end of the war in 1945. Japanese doctors would cut open the living bodies of survivors to examine the damage done to their organs. After the war, to prevent the Soviets from gaining useful knowledge from these experiments, Gen. MacArthur granted immunity to some of the Japanese scientists to gain access to the results of their data. To this day Japanese history books omit all mention of these horrendous experiments carried out at the direction of their government.
And as more and more military installations are closed down I'm sure we will see more signs just like these AMac.