- Why the Department of Health and Human Services is involved in weapons disposal
- Protecting the health and safety of communities
- History of CDC involvement
- Chemical weapons disposal facilities are constructed and operated according to high safety standards
- Each facility carefully monitors its emissions to ensure that no harm comes to people or to the environment
- Rigid safety standards are applied during all phases of the chemical stockpile disposal process.
Mission Statement
To protect public health and safety by providing guidance to the Army's chemical warfare materials demilitarization program through reviewing, advising, making recommendations to the Army's plans to destroy stockpile and non-stockpile materials.
Why the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is involved in weapon destruction?
Public laws 91-121 (1970), 91-441 (1971), and 99-145 (1986) required that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provide public health review and oversight of the Department of Defense's plans and activities to test, transport, and dispose of chemical and biological weapons. Specifically, U.S. Code 50, Section 1512 requires DHHS “… review particulars with respect to any hazards to public health and safety which transportation, testing, or disposal may pose and to recommend what precautionary measures are necessary to protect the public health and safety.”
CDC works to protect the health and safety of workers and communities involved in weapons disposal.
CDC assists the U.S. Army by providing technical assistance in the safe handling and destruction of outdated chemical weapons at all U.S. stockpile disposal facilities.
To protect public health and safety, CDC evaluates scientific technologies with a high degree of rigor. Therefore, CDC’s expert staff of occupational health physicians, chemical engineers, environmental engineers, and industrial hygienists consults with the Army to ensure that:
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A
Tel: (404) 639-3311 • CDC Contact Center: 800-CDC-INFO • 888-232-6348 (TTY)
