Bi-Weekly Treaty Review
Seventy Percent of Army’s Chemical Weapons Stockpiles Destroyed
BioprepWatch.com, 15 February 2010, www.bioprepwatch.com
U.S. Army officials have announced that more than 70 percent of the Army's chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed with the majority expected to be destroyed by 2012. The United States' arsenal includes 31,500 tons of chemical weapons, made up of sarin, VX and mustard agents. To date, 22,322 tons of that arsenal have been destroyed.
"It is a tremendous success story," Carmen Spencer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Elimination of Chemical Weapons), told Army.mil. "Not only is the United States doing all it can to meet its international commitments, but more importantly, the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) is contributing to the national security of the United States in the process. These weapons in the wrong hands can do harm. They are safely and securely storing and destroying them while providing maximum protection to the public and environment," Mr. Spencer said.
More than 3,084 tons of chemical weapons were destroyed by the Army's Chemical Stockpile Elimination mission in 2009. That mission began in the early 1990's, prior to the 1992 international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) called for destroying chemical weapons stockpiles as well as prohibiting their use and production.
The CWC was signed in 1993 and has been ratified by 188 countries. The Convention states that, "Each State Party undertakes to destroy the chemical weapons it owns or possesses, or that are located in any place under its jurisdiction or control, in accordance with the provisions of this convention."
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