[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS: "Burn, Bury Or Scorch? Why Destroying Syria's Chemical Weapons Is Hard"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Burn, Bury Or Scorch? Why Destroying Syria's Chemical Weapons Is Hard

by Geoff Brumfiel
NPR Morning Edition
October 31, 2013

International monitors that Syria has completely destroyed its equipment for making and filling chemical weapons. But the destruction of the chemicals themselves — more than 1,000 tons of toxic ingredients — is going to be a far more daunting task.

The problem is that it's just not as easy to destroy chemical weapons as it used to be. At the end of World War II, every major world power with chemical weapons loaded them onto ships and barges, and dumped them out at sea.

"The rough guesstimate is [that] probably 300,000 tons or more have been dumped in every ocean of the world, except the Antarctic," says Paul Walker, director of environmental security and sustainability at Green Cross International, an environmental group that tracks the effects of weapons disposal.

…

For the entire story, see
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/31/241838750/burn-bury-or-scorch-why-destroying-syria-s-chemical-weapons-is-so-hard
--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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