HC Deb 22 June 1972 vol 839 cc156-7W
51. Mr. Loveridge

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking, in concert with other Governments, to ensure that chemical weapons, and the equipment for their manufacture, are kept within the control of Governments and out of the hands of international terrorists.

Mr. Godber

The responsibility for maintaining adequate safeguards against the unauthorised acquisition of chemical weapons lies with those Governments which maintain stocks of such weapons. Stocks of lethal chemical weapons are in fact held by very few countries. On the general question of controlling chemical weapons, Her Majesty's Government are playing an active part in the discussions of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament designed to achieve international agreement on effective measures for the complete prohibition of their development, production and stockpiling and for their destruction.

Forward to