The U.S. faced a Sept. 30 deadline to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1997 and was joined by 193 countries. Chemical weapons were first used in modern warfare in World War I, where they were estimated have killed at least 100,000. The projectiles and mortars comprised about 8.5% of the country’s original chemical weapons stockpile of 30,610 tons of agent. Concerns remain that some parties to the convention, particularly Russia and Syria, possess undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles. The international chemical weapons watchdog hailed the U.S. move as a “historic success of multilateralism” but said challenges remain such as urging the holdouts to join the treaty and destroying and recovering old chemical weapons.

Source: ABC News July 07, 2023 04:49 UTC