chemical warfare

16 Stories

US Eliminates Its Last Chemical Weapon

The world is now free of them, at least those that are declared

(Newser) - The US has long stored a considerable arsenal of illegal-to-use chemical weaponry—until now. On Friday, the Pentagon destroyed its last remaining such weapon, the culmination of a decades-long effort, reports NPR . The dismantling took place at the Army's Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and at the Blue Grass...

Officials: ISIS Working Hard to Get Chemical Weapons

'The macabre imagination of the masterminds is limitless': French PM

(Newser) - French PM Manuel Valls issued a new warning in front of the lower house of France's Parliament Thursday, nearly a week after the Paris terror attacks . "Terrorism hit France not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria … but for what it is. We know...

US to Screen Long-Ignored Iraq Vets for Chemical Exposure

Pentagon orders medical exams, monitoring for troops exposed in Iraq

(Newser) - Beginning in early 2015, the Pentagon will offer medical exams and health monitoring for US troops and veterans exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq, the New York Times reports. The new measure comes as part of a review from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel after a Times investigation earlier this month...

Gov't Covered Up Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq: NYT
Chemical Weapons Found
in Iraq Were Kept Secret
in case you missed it
Oct 18, 2014 3:06 PM CDT

Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq Were Kept Secret

NYT : Troops who served in Iraq allege serious injuries, incompetence

(Newser) - US troops headed into Iraq more than a decade ago to hunt down weapons of mass destruction, but they found something else instead: massive numbers of chemical weapons, which injured soldiers and prompted a possible Pentagon cover-up, the New York Times reports. In a stunning narrative based on interviews and...

Syria Likely Gassed Civilians 8 Times in April: UN

Independent commission also says country is plagued by 'crimes against humanity'

(Newser) - The Assad regime likely used chlorine gas eight times on its own people in northern Syria villages in April, according to a report released today by an independent UN commission, the AP reports. The report also indicates that the Syrian people have been besieged by crimes against humanity at the...

Civil War Soldiers Used... Chemical Weapons?
Civil War Troops Used ...
Chemical Weapons?
in case you missed it
Apr 5, 2014 8:00 AM CDT

Civil War Troops Used ... Chemical Weapons?

Both sides developed weapons, but rarely used them

(Newser) - The US Civil War foreshadowed World War I in important ways—like trench warfare, new technologies, and violence against civilians—but few of us know about its forays into chemical warfare, the New York Times reports. For one thing, leaders on both sides saw the importance of disease before scientists...

UN: Not One Chemical Attack in Syria—There Were 5

But report doesn't say which side used them

(Newser) - Chemical weapons were probably used in four locations in Syria this year, in addition to the confirmed attack near Damascus in August that forced the government to abandon its secret chemical stockpile, according to a report from UN inspectors. The experts examined seven alleged chemical weapons attacks and said they...

Assad: If US Strikes Syria, 'Expect Every Action' in Return

Clips air from Charlie Rose interview

(Newser) - If the US does indeed strike Syria, "you should expect everything," "expect every action," from Syria in response, President Bashar al-Assad tells Charlie Rose in a new interview . CBS This Morning previewed the interview today; it airs in full on PBS tonight. Some of Assad's...

France: 'Massive Use of Chemical Agents' in Syria

Assad: Mideast is a 'powder keg' that would blow in event of Western strike

(Newser) - As promised , France has unveiled its Syria intel estimate today, and it's squarely blaming the Assad regime with the "massive use of chemical agents" in the Aug. 21 attacks that claimed hundreds of lives. The nine-page report says that Bashar al-Assad could carry out similar attacks in...

Roman Soldiers Likely Hit by Chemical Weapon

 Roman Soldiers 
 Likely Hit by 
 Chemical 
 Weapon 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 13, 2011 10:52 AM CDT

Roman Soldiers Likely Hit by Chemical Weapon

Archaeologists discover secrets in ancient bones

(Newser) - When archaeologists first found the bones of the 19 ancient Roman soldiers and one Persian buried under the ancient Syrian city of Dura-Europos in the 1930s, they assumed they’d died in some kind of fierce underground melee—when the Persians attacked the city, they’d dug tunnels under the...

Al-Qaeda Preps Major WMD Attack on US: Report

Group said to be determined, methodical, and patient

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's threat to attack the United Sates using weapons of mass destruction is not "empty rhetoric," a new study claims. The report, written by a former CIA official with extensive knowledge of classified files, says al-Qaeda is gathering the materials and expertise required to use chemical, biological, and...

Iraqi War Zone Sees Big Spike in Birth Defects

Fallujah reports unusually high rate of abnormalities

(Newser) - Doctors in Fallujah are seeing an alarming rise in the number of birth defects and early life cancers. They have no definitive evidence, but suspicion has naturally fallen on toxic materials left behind after years of modern warfare, reports the Guardian. The rate of birth defects—including multiple tumors, nervous...

Bio, Nuke Attack Likely in 5 Years: Panel

(Newser) - The US can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed tomorrow to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists. "Our margin...

Court Scraps Agent Orange Suit
Court Scraps Agent Orange Suit
Feb 22, 2008 3:17 PM CST

Court Scraps Agent Orange Suit

Judge says chemical was used as a defoliant, not a weapon

(Newser) - Vietnamese plaintiffs who say Agent Orange caused them serious health problems ran into a judicial dead end today. A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a civil lawsuit over use of the defoliant in the Vietnam War. The suit claimed that Dow Chemical and other companies violated a ban...

'Gay Bomb,' Sword Eating Win Ig-Nobels

Making enemies 'sexually irresistible to each other' lights anti-Nobels' fuse

(Newser) - The US military does some pretty cutting-edge research, but a hypothetical bomb that would make enemy troops make love to each other instead of war on the US? The proposal—along with detailed research on the effects of sword-swallowing, extracting vanilla from cowpies, and curing hamster jetlag with Viagra—yesterday...

Nerve Gas Found at UN Building
Nerve Gas Found at UN Building
Aug 30, 2007 12:46 PM CDT

Nerve Gas Found at UN Building

Building evacuated after vials of dangerous chemical turn up in office

(Newser) - Weapons inspectors cleaning out an office in a United Nations building near its Manhattan headquarters found six to eight vials of a nerve gas believed to have been recovered from Iraq in 1996, the AP reports. A UN spokeswoman said there was no immediate danger from the substance, identified as...

16 Stories