[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "Public awareness over Syria chemical weapons destruction needed amid Mediterranean region concerns"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
Green Cross International
February 4, 2014


Public awareness over Syria chemical weapons destruction needed amid  
Mediterranean region concerns

International experts and advocates on the destruction of chemical  
weapons are urging the United States government to back an  
intensified awareness campaign, particularly in Europe, amid public  
concerns over efforts to dismantle Syrian chemical warfare material.

In a letter sent 3 February 2014 to U.S. Secretary of State John  
Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, a wide range of groups,  
including Green Cross International (GCI), Pugwash Conferences on  
Science and World Affairs, the Arms Control Association, Friends of  
the Earth-United States, and the Center for Strategic and  
International Studies, also called for a speeding up of the scheduled  
at-sea destruction process of about 22 tons of mustard agent and 540  
tons of key binary chemical weapons components.

The letter, also copied to the Organization for the Prohibition of  
Chemical Weapons (OPCW), acknowledged that the destruction of  
chemical weapons material onboard the US merchant ship, MV Cape Ray,  
was a "less-risky approach" than attempting to destroy them inside  
conflict-wracked Syria, and that the system to be used "will minimize  
any potential risks to public health and the environment."

...

For the entire release and a link to the letter, see
http://www.gcint.org/news/public-awareness-over-syria-chemical- 
weapons-destruction-needed-amid-mediterranean-region-conce

Note: CPEO's Lenny Siegel was among the signers of the letter.

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., 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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