Member states to an international disarmament accord by the end of
April had eliminated 73.6 percent of their disclosed chemical warfare
stocks, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons said on Tuesday (see GSN, May 21).
As of April 29 -- the 15th anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention's entry into force and the final date permitted for full disposal of member states' chemical arsenals -- "about 51,128 [metric tons], or 73.64 percent, of Category 1 chemical weapons had been destroyed under verification by the [OPCW] Secretariat," Director General Ahmet Üzümcü said in prepared remarks to the 15th Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Conference in the United Kingdom (see GSN, April 30). Category 1 weapons contain materials such as nerve or blister agents that have little if any nonmilitary purpose.
Albania, India and an additional CWC signatory nation have fully eliminated their chemical-weapon stockpiles, Üzümcü noted (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2008). The third nation, while never officially confirmed, is widely known to be South Korea.
Libya, Russia and the United States are continuing work to finish off their chemical stocks.
The United States as of the April cutoff date had eliminated 24,923.7 metric tons -- or 89.8 percent -- of its declared chemical warfare assets, he said, noting the country expects to dispose of the remaining material by September 2023.
Russia by April 29 had eliminated 24,961 metric tons of chemical warfare materials, or 62.5 percent of its arsenal. Full elimination of the initial 40,000-metric-ton stockpile is scheduled to be complete by December 2015 (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release I, May 22).
The chemical disarmament gathering in Glasgow was the 15th and last of its kind, according to an OPCW press release. It included in excess of 170 participants from 16 nations (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release II, May 22).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
As of April 29 -- the 15th anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention's entry into force and the final date permitted for full disposal of member states' chemical arsenals -- "about 51,128 [metric tons], or 73.64 percent, of Category 1 chemical weapons had been destroyed under verification by the [OPCW] Secretariat," Director General Ahmet Üzümcü said in prepared remarks to the 15th Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Conference in the United Kingdom (see GSN, April 30). Category 1 weapons contain materials such as nerve or blister agents that have little if any nonmilitary purpose.
Albania, India and an additional CWC signatory nation have fully eliminated their chemical-weapon stockpiles, Üzümcü noted (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2008). The third nation, while never officially confirmed, is widely known to be South Korea.
Libya, Russia and the United States are continuing work to finish off their chemical stocks.
The United States as of the April cutoff date had eliminated 24,923.7 metric tons -- or 89.8 percent -- of its declared chemical warfare assets, he said, noting the country expects to dispose of the remaining material by September 2023.
Russia by April 29 had eliminated 24,961 metric tons of chemical warfare materials, or 62.5 percent of its arsenal. Full elimination of the initial 40,000-metric-ton stockpile is scheduled to be complete by December 2015 (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release I, May 22).
The chemical disarmament gathering in Glasgow was the 15th and last of its kind, according to an OPCW press release. It included in excess of 170 participants from 16 nations (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release II, May 22).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
