About a year ago, consultations on the problem were suspended because Americans refused to participate in them. The countries that signed the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention have been trying for several years already to make the convention prohibiting development and production of biological weapons work. The convention signed during the cold war was a mere declaration in fact; no measures for the realization of the convention were mentioned in the document at all. In December 2001, after many efforts spent on making the convention effective, Americans abandoned the negotiations, which shocked the world community.

The USA says that the system suggested by the convention for control over enterprises in the biological sphere is ineffective and may entail violations and these violations, in their turn, will endanger America’s national security, the BBC reports.

The USA won’t sign the convention because it would have to open its laboratories to inspection, which is very undesirable for America. Instead, Washington follows the trite principle that the best defense is an offense and accuses other countries of holding biological weapons.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday - with reference to sources in the U.S. special services - that Iraq, North Korea, Russia, and France hold secret smallpox viruses.

The American military is developing new-generation bacteriological weapons, which is a serious violation of international agreements on the prohibition of these kind of weapons. The Guardian informs that the statement was made by respected experts on both sides of the Atlantic.