Chinese Workers Receive Medical Care After Exposure to World War II-Era Mustard Agent

At least nine people in the Chinese city of Qiqihar have received medical treatment after being exposed yesterday to World War II-era mustard gas (see GSN, April 23).

Construction workers working in the northeastern city broke open a Japanese canister of mustard gas left behind after World War II, a local government spokesman said today. A similar incident in Qiqihar last year killed one person and injured 43 others, the Xinhua News Agency reported (Xinhua/China Daily, May 25).

While Chinese experts said that more than 2 million Japanese World War II-era chemical weapons remain in China, Tokyo has estimated the total to be about 700,000 munitions, according to Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, May 25). 

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