Biological and Toxin Weapons

HL Deb 07 May 2002 vol 634 c163WA

Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress they are making in their consultations with states parties to the 1975 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention on how to achieve a binding agreement that will reinforce the international norm against biological weapons. [HL3862]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

Since the suspension of the 5th Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) in December last year, our efforts have been concentrated on preparing a Green Paper on ways of countering the threat from biological weapons. This paper, which was published on 29 April, will serve as a consultation document and seeks the views of Members of Parliament, NGOs, academia, industry and state parties to the BTWC. We hope that it will serve as the focus for discussion in preparation for the review conference, which will resume in Geneva on 11 November.