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The U.S. has agreed to destroy chemical bombs left over from a secret U.S.-Canadian test program that conducted mustard-gas experiments on various ethnic groups during the Second World War.

The eight bombs were discovered on San Jose Island, the site of an extensive wartime chemical weapons test program and, later, the location for several seasons of the Survivor reality TV series.

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The weapons on the Panamanian island will be destroyed in September.

Canada’s Department of National Defence had warned years ago that Canadian-made mustard gas and other chemical weapons might still be found on the island, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through the Access to Information law.

Photo by Library and Archives Canada/CP

The failure by the U.S. and Canadian governments to commit to cleaning up the contaminated island has angered Panamanian officials for years. The chemical bombs were discovered in 2002 but it has taken until now to get the U.S. to agree to dispose of the weapons.