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Article: Stop the clock, support the ban; Biological Weapons Convention; Strengthening the ban on biological weapons.(Leaders)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 16, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IS THE century that was pockmarked by the tank and the atomic bomb to be followed by one blighted by the test-tube? Until now arms control has meant curbing numbers of countable tanks, ships, aircraft and bombs, or monitoring mostly prominent events, such as nuclear tests and missile firings, or even at a stretch tracking suspiciously large quantities of harmful chemicals. But the task of controlling biological-warfare agents-like the horrifying weapons they can be made into-makes the hair stand on end.
With the wrong knowledge, test-tube-sized quantities of bacteria, toxins and viruses could spread plague or smallpox, two of history's most virulent killers; or ...