The U.S. has destroyed the last of its declared chemical weapons stockpile, President Joe Biden said on Friday, bringing to an end a decades-long effort to eliminate the deadly weapons first used on a large scale in World War One, Reuters reports.
As part of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1997, the U.S. and other signatories are required to destroy their chemical weapons stockpile by Sept. 30, 2023.
The U.S. has been destroying its remaining stockpiles at U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colorado, and Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) in Richmond, Kentucky.
The U.S.' stockpile of chemical warfare agents reached nearly 40,000 tons by 1968, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Chemical weapons are responsible for some of the most horrific episodes of human loss. Though the use of these deadly agents will always be a stain on history, today our Nation has finally fulfilled our promise to rid our arsenal of this evil," U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
