Biowar treaty in danger

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.1991.11460009· OSTI ID:7040267

Wright, S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (United States)

This month in Geneva the Biological Weapons Convention is facing its third review. The agreement, which was signed in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, quickly gained widespread support, and nearly a decade passed without apparent violation. One reason for the ban's apparent success in the 1970s was the absence of any obvious military interest in biological warfare. In the 1980s, military interest in biological warfare reemerged first in the former Eastern and Western blocs, where efforts to develop defenses against biological warfare agents expanded, and later in the decade in other parts of the world - the Middle East and possible elsewhere - as part of a pattern of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These trends are politically distinct, but they have a potential for reinforcing each other. If they do so, military establishments will intensify their attempts to turn the biological sciences and advances in biotechnology to military use. The restraints encoded in the Biological Weapons Convention, which has one important loophole and few enforcement mechanisms, will weaken further. The review conference presents an important opportunity to correct these flaws and strengthen the treaty.

• OSTI ID: 7040267
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; (United States), Vol. 47:7; ISSN 0096-5243
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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