§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the statement of the Minister of State, the hon. and learned Member for Putney (Mr. Mellor), 22 October, column 1013, what is his precise assessment of the USSR's biological weapons threat; and upon what evidence he bases it.
§ Mr. Ian StewartMy hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in his statement of 22 October at column 1013, was drawing attention to the tremendous Soviet advantage in chemical weapons. So far as the Soviet biological weapons threat is concerned, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Sussex (Mr. Renton) to the hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Mrs. Clwyd) on 28 November 1986 at column382. However, the Soviet Union is known to possess a significant microbiological research capability, the potential military implications of which we have to take into account.