Weapons of Mass Destruction
GLOBAL GREEN USA CONGRATULATES SOUTH KOREA FOR ABOLISHING CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Calls for North Korea to Reciprocate and Join the Chemical Weapons Convention
Washington, DC - Oct 17, 2008 - In an unannounced step forward in global elimination of chemical weapons, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has recently become the second country to complete the destruction of its declared chemical weapons stockpile. Dr. Paul Walker, Director of Global Green USA’s Security and Sustainability Program, stated that “the elimination of several thousand tons of deadly nerve agents in South Korea marks a major historic initiative in global abolition of chemical weapons, in implementation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention, and in demilitarizing the Korean Peninsula. South Korea deserves our sincere congratulations in destroying its entire chemical weapons arsenal and making the Korean Peninsula a more stable and peaceful region.”
GLOBAL GREEN USA APPLAUDS ELIMINATION OF VX STOCKPILE IN INDIANA
August 11, Washington, DC - Global Green USA, the US national environmental affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International, today applauded the work of the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) of the US Department of Defense, which announced the neutralization of the final container of deadly VX nerve agent at Newport, Indiana.
Dr. Paul Walker, Director of Global Green USA's "Security and Sustainability Program," stated that "the successful elimination of the 1,269 tons of VX nerve agent over the past 39 months represents a major, historic step forward in protecting American citizens, removing a potential target for terrorist attack, and fulfilling our legal obligations under the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to abolish our total declared chemical weapons stockpile of 31,500 tons by 2012." "However," he added, "the Bush Administration and the US Congress have failed to adequately fund the safe destruction of chemical weapons in both the US and Russia today, thereby delaying the process for a decade or more and potentially undermining the global ban on this whole class of weapons of mass destruction."
RUSSIA TAKES ANOTHER STEP FORWARD IN WMD THREAT REDUCTION
Washington, DC - June 12, 2008 - Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, welcomes the official opening of Russia’s fourth major facility for the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal and urges safety and transparency as destruction gets underway. The facility, located near Leonidovka in the Penza Oblast (350 miles SE of Moscow), holds 6,885 metric tons of VX, sarin, and soman nerve agents, about 17% of Russia’s declared chemical weapons stockpile.
GREEN CROSS CALLS FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT TO ABOLISH CHEMICAL WEAPONS GLOBALLY
Green Cross Experts to Speak at CWD 2008 Conference in Interlaken
Washington, DC - May 18, 2008 - The international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997, just celebrated its eleventh anniversary in The Hague where its implementing agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) hosted the second Five-Year Review Conference. The CWC has now been signed by 183 countries and has verified the safe and sound destruction of over 27,500 metric tons of deadly chemical weapons in five declared possessor states.
Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director of Chemical Weapons Convention to Speak on Capitol Hill
Washington D.C. - April 1 2008 - Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, will speak on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at 11 AM in the US House of Representatives (1116 Longworth HOB) on the status of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which mandates the elimination of over 70,000 tons of deadly chemical agents in six declared possessor states.
