§ 51. Mr. S. Silvermanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs which of the Powers included in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are bound by treaty or international convention, which they have signed and ratified, not to use the weapons of chemical or biological warfare which, by the Nine-Powers Treaty, the Federal Government of West Germany undertakes not to manufacture, and which Powers are free to do so.
§ Mr. NuttingI presume the hon. Member is referring to the Geneva Protocol of June, 1925. The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Italy are parties to the Protocol, and the United States and Iceland are not.
§ Mr. SilvermanWill the right hon. Gentleman agree that the purpose of Dr. Adenauer's declaration was to make clear which weapons the West German Federal Republic, in contradistinction to its prospective allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, would not make and that the world, unless a denial is clearly 30 made, will draw the inference that the other parties to that alliance are free to make those weapons?
§ Mr. NuttingThe position is as laid down in the Geneva Protocol, and what we are trying to do is to get an effective agreement or disarmament embracing all weapons of mass destruction including bacteriological weapons and those to which the hon. Gentleman draws attention in his Question. We consider that that is much better than going back to the ratification or non-ratification of the 1925 Protocol.
§ Mr. SilvermanIn the meantime, does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that it might be well if all the Powers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and especially the principal Power concerned, the United States of America, should bring themselves into line with other civilised nations on this subject?
§ Mr. NuttingNo, Sir. What I think would be much better would be to try to make progress in the future rather than go back into the past.
§ At the end of Questions—