UPDATE - Bush proposes criminalizing biological weapons
Date: 02-Nov-01
Country: USA
Author: Arshad Mohammed
The proposals reflect a U.S. effort to come up with fresh ideas on how to put teeth into the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which bans germ warfare, after Washington in July rejected a long-discussed plan to enforce the treaty.
The U.S. effort has gained momentum since the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks and the outbreak of anthrax that has killed four people and infected 12 others in the United States, raising concerns about germ warfare.
"Today, we know the scourge of biological weapons has not been eradicated. Instead the threat is growing," Bush said in a statement released by the White House.
"Since Sept. 11, America and others have been confronted by the evils these weapons can inflict. This threat is real and extremely dangerous," he added. "Rogue states and terrorists possess these weapons and are willing to use them."
U.S. officials suspect that Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group, accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, may be behind the anthrax cases but have said they have no proof.
Bush's ideas on the weapons convention, outlined in a White House statement, call for all parties to "enact strict national criminal legislation against prohibited (biological weapons) activities with strong extradition requirements."
He also called for establishing "an effective United Nations procedure for investigating suspicious outbreaks or allegations of biological weapons use."
Unlike other arms control accords, the biological weapons convention did not contain mechanisms to verify that the 140 nations who signed it abide by its ban on making, stockpiling or using germ weapons.
In July, the United States rejected a plan 10 years in the making to put teeth into the accord that required signatories to open up sites that could be used to develop such weapons and that included spot checks as a means of verification.
U.S. officials offered two main criticisms of that plan, arguing that it would not have prevented states that wanted to cheat on the convention from doing so and that it would have opened the door to industrial espionage on U.S. businesses.
"The crux of it is that it's extremely difficult to construct an inspection regime that is rigorous enough in order to detect countries who wish to cheat on the biological weapons convention," said a U.S. official yesterday.
The United States independently and unconditionally gave up the possession and use of biological weapons before the 1972 convention, which it has signed.
Bush has ordered his aides to consult U.S. allies, members of Congress, executives and others to discuss "how best to achieve our common aim of eliminating biological weapons."
"Our objective is to fashion an effective international approach to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention," he said, adding that the U.S. ideas did not constitute a complete solution to the use of germ warfare "for evil purposes."
Among his proposals, Bush called for all parties to:
- establish procedures for addressing compliance concerns about the convention;
- commit to improving international disease control and to enhancing mechanisms to send experts to cope with outbreaks;
- establish sound national oversight mechanisms for the security and genetic engineering of "pathogenic" organisms;
- devise a code of ethical conduct for bioscientists,
- and promote responsible conduct in the study, use, modification and shipment of "pathogenic organisms."
