关键词:
Biological Warfare
Drug Industry
摘要:
Reflecting perhaps the political realities of its time, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), which entered into force in April 1975, contains no measures - such as inspections or declarations - to ensure compliance. Since the mid 1980s, however, there have been sustained efforts to strengthen the convention, efforts in which the United Kingdom has played a leading role. The 1991 Gulf War reminded everyone that the risk posed by biological weapons was real and - as UNSCOM's discoveries in Iraq since then have demonstrated all too clearly - not at all exaggerated. The Iraqi experience is one of the reasons the UK believes urgent steps must be taken to strengthen the BWC. Work to that end is now underway. The BWC's third review conference in September 1991 established an ad hoc group of government experts to examine verification measures from a scientific and technical standpoint. This 2-year exercise concluded that there were various measures that would contribute to strengthening the convention's effectiveness and improving its implementation. The most important of these were declarations and inspections.