BWC protocol talks in Geneva collapse following U.S. rejection

NEWS AND NEGOTIATIONS

INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS 1N Geneva to conclude a protocol to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) collapsed this summer after the United States rejected the protocol in late July, casting uncertainty over the talks' future.

BWC states-parties had been meeting since 1995 under a body known as the Ad Hoc Group to negotiate the protocol-a legally binding agreement to strengthen the BWC, which outlaws biological weapons but does not contain verification measures.

In a highly anticipated speech July 25, Ambassador Donald Mahley, the head of the U.S. Ad Hoc Group delegation, said the United States would not support the draft protocol or …