August 18, 2001

The US has killed a move by nations that are parties to the Biological Weapons Convention to add a new protocol to it. While many nations supported the protocol (and condemned the US for blocking it), the US said that the protocol had serious flaws and that the Biological Weapons Convention would be better off without it. The US says that the proposed Protocol:

@ "does nothing" to enhance the verification capabilities of the Convention.

@ blocks legitimate efforts to develop defenses against biological attacks.

@ allows foreign countries to conduct industrial espionage against US companies under the guise of supposed inspections that wouldn't detect weapons research.

@ opens loopholes in export control regimes.--Stephen V Cole