The chemical munitions were placed in high heat to destroy the chemical agents and the gases that were generated were treated by an off-gas treatment system.įollowing the destruction of the final M55 rocket containing VX agent, over 46% of the original 523 U.S. The neutralized VX agent was pumped to holding tanks and shipped to the Veolia Environmental Services in Texas. The drained rocket warheads were destroyed in a Static Detonation Chamber (SDC) unit on the depot. tons of chemical agent configured in 155mm projectiles containing mustard and VX nerve agent, 8-inch projectiles containing GB nerve agent, and M55 rockets containing GB and VX nerve agent.”

Over 18,000 rockets and nearly 13,000 155mm projectiles containing VX nerve agent were destroyed at BGCAPP.Īccording to Mark York, Communications Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives “the chemical weapons stockpile at the depot originally comprised 523 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ agent for facility design and facility construction of chemical demilitarization facilities.ĭestruction of the VX M55 rockets began at the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) on July 9, 2021. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, is the U.S. Another extension was approved for a January 2023 deadline.

An additional five-year extension was exercised allowing the program to meet a 2012 deadline. To comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty and congressional mandate, destruction of these weapons was to be completed by 2007. The Department of Defense was directed by Congress through Public Law 99-145 to be the government agency responsible for destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile. “The Ordinance and Explosive Branch, The Electronic Security MCX, Facility Explosive Safety MCX, and the construction support branch continue to be involved in ongoing construction and maintenance tasks for the BGCAPP project,” said Aaron Renfro, Project Lead Civil Engineer at Huntsville Center. Huntsville Center served as engineering and construction oversight for the Program Executive Office Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives for the duration of this project and continues to maintain a role in ongoing facility reconfigurations. Destruction of the last M55 rocket containing VX nerve agent in April at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Deconstruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) in Kentucky, marked a milestone for the destruction of chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty. This study highlights the necessity of prospective, long-term, double-blinded studies for understanding the advantages of this VNS modality.ĭrug-resistant epilepsy Intractable epilepsy Rapid cycling Vagus nerve stimulation.Ĭopyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. Rapid duty cycle VNS is probably safe and well tolerated it may also be more efficacious than regular cycling VNS in some patients. In only a few instances, responders became nonresponders after switching to rapid duty cycle. Fifteen patients (34.1%) became responders to VNS after switching to rapid cycling another 19 (43.2%) maintained their response with mostly improved seizure reduction rates. This rate increased to 77.3% after switching to rapid duty cycle and remained at 77.4% at the last rapid duty cycle visit. At the last visit before switching to rapid duty cycle 45.5% patients were showing response to VNS (seizure reduction rates ≥50%). Rapid duty cycle was well tolerated, with no adverse events reported in 96.6% patient encounters. We also compared seizure reduction rates for each patient at (1) last regular duty cycle visit, (2) first rapid duty cycle visit, and (3) last recorded rapid duty cycle visit. Safety and tolerability data were aggregated across all patient visits to determine frequency of adverse events between differing duty cycles. Retrospective chart review of 50 patients (one to 17 years) with drug-resistant epilepsy treated with VNS between 20 at a single pediatric epilepsy center. Our study examines the safety and efficacy of rapid duty cycle VNS (OFF time ≤1.1 minute keeping duty cycle less than 50%) in pediatric cohort with intractable epilepsy. Nevertheless, information is lacking regarding optimization of stimulation parameters to improve efficacy. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an effective adjunctive therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy.

Nerve safety last