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Chemical weapons watchdog marks centennial of World War I gas attack with victims' tribute

Associated Press
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Buglers play the Last Post during a special Last Post ceremony for The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. The OPCW held a meeting in Ypres, nearly 100 years to the day of the first gas attacks of WWI, to honor the memory of victims of chemical warfare, as well as to re-dedicate collective efforts to rid the world of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) (The Associated Press)

The mist begins to lift in the early morning over Flanders Fields near Ypres, Belgium Tuesday, April 21, 2015. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will hold a commemorative meeting in Ypres on Tuesday, nearly 100 years after the first large scale use of gas during World War I, to honor the memory of victims of chemical warfare worldwide. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) (The Associated Press)

World War I shells, some colored in pink are suspect gas shells, are piled in a warehouse at the explosive disposal facility (DOVO) in Poelkapelle, Belgium on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Nearly 100 years since the first gas attacks in WWI, farmers and local land owners still find ammunition in what has locally been called the "Iron Harvest". (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (The Associated Press)

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has marked the centennial of the first large-scale use of gas during World War I with a commemoration to pay tribute to all victims of such arms over the past century.

In a tribute close to the fields where Germany first used chlorine gas in its April 22, 1915 attack, OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu said Tuesday that the purpose of his Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization could never be fully finished.

Uzumcu said that "our success cannot only be measured in weapons destroyed. It must extend to preventing new weapons from being developed and from being built."

The Allies and Germany used so many chemical shells during the 1914-1918 war that farmers are still ploughing them up to this day.