from http://www.usembassy.it/file2001_09/alia/a1090406.htm

(U.S. is meeting biological treaty obligations, official says)

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is studying the feasibility of
developing a new modified strain of anthrax to determine its potential threat
to the U.S. armed forces and the American people, says Victoria Clarke,
assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.

In all instances, the United States has been in compliance with the 1972
Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the Pentagon spokeswoman said. The
United States, which unilaterally renounced use of biological and toxin
weapons in 1969, is a signatory to the BWC and has ratified the treaty.

"This administration has made clear: one of its priorities is to work against
the threat of biological warfare," Clarke said at a September 4 Defense
Department briefing.

The purpose of the anthrax research is to ensure that the United States
possess an effective vaccine in the event a biological weapon is used against
U.S. armed forces, she said.

She said that in 1997 a professional scientific journal, "Vaccine," reported
on a modified anthrax strain that the Russians were developing. The United
States has a vaccine against most known strains of anthrax, but became
concerned by the article and wanted to be prepared for any potential
surprises, she said.

In the early part of this year the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) started
"to look into the feasibility -- in doing all the legal consultations ... to
look into how we could develop that modified anthrax strain so we could test
our vaccines against it," Clarke said.

However, she said there is no work going on now on the modified anthrax
vaccine. The BWC treaty does provide for some testing of a defensive nature,
she said.

"We've said pretty consistently that we're very concerned about the threat of
offensive biological weapons -- of the proliferation of materials and
technology that could enhance the proliferation of chemical and biological
warfare," she said.

"All of the work is consistent with U.S. treaty obligations. All of the work
is thoroughly briefed and [has] gone through a heavy consultation process,
both interagency and the appropriate legal reviews and the appropriate
congressional briefings," she said.

At a research facility in Nevada, the Pentagon wanted to determine how easy
it would be to obtain available materials commercially to make biological
weapons, but the facility tested only simulants -- which are benign
substances with characteristics similar to germs used in weapons, she said.
The research facility did not build biological weapons, she said.

Email this page to a friend Last edit: 28th Sep 2008 at 2:12pm (280 days ago)

Bookmark with: What are these? Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon