Germ Warfare Talks End on an Angry Note

An international conference on germ warfare disbanded in chaos and anger Friday after the United States sought to cut off discussions about enforcing the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

The treaty, ratified by the U.S. and 143 other governments, bans the development, stockpiling and production of germ warfare agents--but it has no enforcement mechanism. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the progress of a six-year effort to negotiate measures to enforce compliance.

On Friday, the final day of the three-week conference, the U.S. stunned European allies by proposing to terminate the effort. Convinced that such action would turn the conference into a failure, organizers suspended international discussions until at least November 2002.

The breakup of the meeting renewed complaints from Europe that President Bush was acting unilaterally and not heeding the concerns of U.S. allies. That complaint was common early in his administration but had been muted as Bush assembled an anti-terrorism coalition after Sept. 11.

The U.S. had rejected ahead of the conference a draft protocol for a system of spot checks. Washington said the checks would have exposed U.S. industrial and military facilities to espionage.