-Caveat Lector- Ha! Talk about unenforceable. Every country that can afford a petri dish is doing this and would continue to do so no matter what agreements are reached. each only wants to stop the other from doing it, never themselves.. Note the comment about the US protecting our 'biotech' industry, too. Rather telling about the connection between it and germ warfare. Wonder who the guinea oigs could be for this. ~Amelia~ International negotiations on germ warfare break down By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press GENEVA (August 18, 2001 10:38 a.m. EDT ) - Negotiators from 60 countries labored late into the night to salvage six years of work to create a way to enforce a ban on germ warfare. But negotiations hit an impasse early Saturday over assigning blame for the breakdown, diplomats said. Cuba and Iran led nonaligned nations in seeking to fix blame on the United States, which shocked fellow negotiators at the start of the four-week round of talks by declaring a draft proposal unacceptable and refusing to negotiate further on it. The Western group of nations refused to blame the United States in a final report on the talks. "Unfortunately, because of this issue, it was impossible to agree on the whole of the report," said Tibor Toth, the Hungarian diplomat who has been chairing the negotiations since they began in January 1995. "We were very, very close." Diplomats said the focus now shifts to this fall's U.N. General Assembly. Parts of the draft protocol will be preserved for possible negotiations in the future, Toth said. Negotiators have been trying to put teeth into the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, a Cold War-era treaty that lacks a mechanism to enforce the ban - in part because no one seriously thought any country would try to use germ warfare. Iraq's germ warfare arsenal in the 1991 Gulf War prompted nations to begin talks on creating a way to enforce the ban. Most of the countries had accepted the compromise text put forward by Toth. But six key nations - China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Cuba and Iran - said there would have to be some modifications. Those negotiations never got under way. At the start of this round of talks, the United States abruptly rejected the 210-page draft protocol that was six years in the making, saying it would be ineffective in stopping countries from developing biological weapons. The United States said the proposal, which includes limited inspections of biotech industries and defense facilities, would pose risks to U.S. national security and to commercial secrets of the U.S. biotech industry, the largest in world. Washington promised to come up with other ideas on how to enforce the ban on germ warfare, and many delegates said they were awaiting those proposals. Meanwhile, negotiators got stuck writing the report on the talks, usually a routine process - an indication of how deeply divided they remain. The nonaligned nations dropped their demand that blame be stated in the report itself, but insisted that the national speeches delivered during the session - including the U.S. denunciation of the compromise - be attached to the report. The next step is liable to be the U.N. General Assembly meeting this fall, said Toth. The assembly has routinely passed a resolution supporting efforts to enforce the ban on biological weapons. "It will be a continuation of this discussion in a different forum. The U.N. General Assembly is not a negotiating forum," he said. Toth said he has had no indication that any countries are considering a move recommended by some disarmament campaigners who have urged the world to bypass the United States and create an enforcement mechanism as they did last month with an agreement to fight global warming after Washington withdrew. Another chance for advancement comes in November, when the 143 nations that have ratified the accord gather in Geneva to review what has happened over the past five years, Toth said. "Hopefully there will have to be some ideas how to overcome an impasse, because there is a certain impasse - it is absolutely clear," he said. News Copyright � 2001 Interest!ALERT All rights reserved. Copyright � 1996-2000 Nando Interest!ALERT Inc. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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