To the Editor:

I was grateful to learn that the U.S. has just completed destruction of its last chemical weapons stockpile. I was part of strongly lobbying the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty banning chemical weapons in 1997, and it was approved by more than the necessary two-thirds of senators on a strongly bipartisan basis.

Banning these heinous weapons of mass destruction makes the world much safer from them being used to kill or harm unthinkable numbers of innocent victims. Iraq used them in its war against Iran from 1980-1988.

Now people of good will around the world need to actively support a global ban on nuclear weapons. So far, activists have played a major role in reducing the global nuclear warhead arsenal by over 80 percent.

However, the last treaty toward that end, New START, was in 2010, and Russia and the U.S. recently suspended verification of it due to tensions in the Ukraine War.

I urge all readers of good will to support the U.N.’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, approved by 122 nations in 2017. For further information, visit peacecoalition.org and click on the Abolish Nuclear Weapons icon on the right, and the first item in Take Action.

The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action
Witherspoon Street