US in Process of Destroying its Last Chemical Weapons

July 7th, 2:58 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Ky. (NEWSnet/AP) — At a military installation in Kentucky, a milestone is approaching in the history of warfare dating to World War I.

Workers at Blue Grass Army Depot are close to completing destruction of rockets filled with GB nerve agent, the last of the nation’s declared chemical weapons.

U.S. faces 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. The munitions being destroyed in Kentucky are the last of 51,000 M55 rockets with GB nerve agent, a deadly toxin also known as sarin, stored at the depot since the 1940s.

Chemical weapons were used in modern warfare for the first time in World War I, estimated to have killed at least 100,000. Despite a subsequent ban by The Geneva Convention, some countries continued to stockpile the weapons until the treaty calling for their destruction.

Kingston Reif, an assistant U.S. secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control, said destruction of the final U.S. chemical weapon “will close an important chapter in military history … one that we’re very much looking forward to closing.”

Officials say the elimination of the U.S. stockpile is a major step forward for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Only three countries — Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan — have not signed the treaty. A fourth, Israel, has signed the treaty, but not ratified it.