US destroys last of its declared chemical weapons

An operator cuts the metal bands on a pallet of M55 rockets containing GB nerve agent, known as sarin, on July 6, 2022, at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky [File: US Army via AP Photo]

The United States has destroyed the last of its declared chemical weapons stockpile, President Joe Biden confirmed, a milestone that closes a chapter of warfare dating back to World War I.

Workers at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky destroyed rockets filled with GB nerve agent, also known as sarin, on Friday, completing a decades-long campaign to eliminate a stockpile that by the end of the Cold War totalled more than 30,000 tonnes.