The biological arms race

One might have thought the wave of anonymous anthrax attacks must lead to the conclusion that biological weapons must be done away with to prevent them from falling into terrorists' hands. Sadly, the opposite seems to be the case. The U.S. government is making efforts to legalize the production of certain B weapons. Now, it is only interested in outlawing their use and the passing on of lethal biological warfare agents.

If a U.S. under-secretary's recent address to the UN General Assembly's political committee did indeed mark the start of a new U.S. policy, it would not only undermine the international ban on biological weapons but also trigger a biological arms race. What is permissible for one state is permissible for another.

The conference to re-examine the B weapons ban starts on 19 November in Geneva. European and Third World governments must not allow themselves to be sucked into the tow of forces that have a purely military understanding of security.

-- Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany