The United States also destroyed the last of its once-greatest chemical weapon, the Arsenal, thus becoming the last state to irreversibly destroy all chemical weapons stockpiles.
According to the New York Times, on July 7, the last ammunition filled with poisonous substances was destroyed in the USA. Thus, the USA became the last state in the world to eliminate its chemical weapons.
Most of the countries that possess this dangerous weapon of mass destruction have declared their readiness to destroy it within 10 years of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Ban Convention coming into force. In particular, Russia completed the destruction process in September 2017.
But the United States was in no hurry, citing its massive stockpiles of chemical weapons and the complexity of the process of safely destroying them. The last chemical munitions in stock, declared by the USA, were destroyed at the Blue Grass Chemical Destruction Pilot Facility in Kentucky.
In the statement, it was stated that since the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force in 1997, 72,304.34 metric tons of chemical weapons stockpiles declared by participating countries around the world have been destroyed.
Chemical weapons around the world
Chemical weapons were first used on a large scale during World War I, with devastating results. The United States had until September 30 to destroy any remaining chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Ban Treaty, which went into effect 26 years ago.
The agreement signed in 1997 was signed by 193 countries, and the countries abiding by the agreement promised that they would never use chemical weapons and that they would destroy all chemical weapons stockpiles.
North Korea, Israel, Egypt and South Sudan are some of the countries that did not sign the agreement.
