Global Security Newswire

An apparently forgotten stockpile of mustard blister agent has been discovered in southwest Queensland, Australia, the country's Sunday Mail newspaper reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 1).

Australia's Defense Department said that 144 undetonated shells were found in the Darling Downs region by a company preparing a mine. The potentially lethal liquid chemical called Mustard H are believed to be carried in some of the shells. The location was formerly the site of a U.S. weapons facility during World War II.

Mustard agent was used during World War I and at times afterward (Australian Sunday Mail, Nov. 8).