Straw bid to harden bio-weapon laws

The massive growth of biotechnology and genetic engineering is increasing the risk of biological weapons being produced by international terrorists and rogue states, the Foreign Office warned yesterday.

The threat was highlighted in a Green Paper as Jack Straw launched a last-ditch effort to secure global agreement on controls limiting production of weapons using anthrax, smallpox and other diseases. The Foreign Secretary outlined proposals designed to revive interest in biological arms control after the collapse of talks in November. He said: "We have been reminded very acutely in the past nine months of the dangers from non-conventional, non-state warfare, not least through 11 September."

The Green Paper proposed new powers for the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to order inspections where states were suspected of stockpiling biological weapons. Other moves include a new convention to make violations of international controls on biological weapons a criminal offence and increased efforts to monitor disease outbreaks.

The Green Paper warned that "an offensive programme can easily be started by building on the skills and knowledge of scientists experienced with the micro-organisms and toxins causing natural disease".

The November bid to strengthen the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention foundered because the US feared it could reveal the commercial secrets of their biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.