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"Not a year goes by when a Frenchman or two (and some of his farm animals) doesn't die from plowing up a mustard-gas shell from WORLD WAR ONE."

"You wouldn't happen to have a link to this? We need ammunition to use against the left's rebukes."

I found one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/south/series9/week_four.shtml

Here is one snippet from the second article on the link concerning the French problem with the WW1 mustard gas shells called "Bomb Danger"

Bomb danger?

Potentially deadly? Old UXBs may pose a threat
Inside Out investigates how dangerous live military shells and bombs are going missing before the Army or Police can make them safe.

Renegade military dealers and collectors are stealing 'live' chemical shells and bombs from the battlefields of Belgium and France.

They are then smuggling these potentially deadly munitions back through the Channel Tunnel or on the ferries into the UK for sale on the military black-market or on the web.

Some of the live shells going missing are toxic and contain chemicals that could kill.

Trench warfare - bombs are still being uncovered
It appears that toxic shells containing mustard gas and and phosgene were being stolen and were finding their way illegally back into the UK.

So many live bombs are unearthed by farmers, there are designated spots where they are left for collection by the military.

They may be 90-years-old and look harmless but the chemical agents can be as deadly as the day they were first made. Destroying them has to take place inside a high security lab.

The scale of the problem is frightening and with toxic agents like phosgene and mustard gas, it is dangerous work.