THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995               TAG: 9504290015
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION THREATEN: SEEKING BANS OR LIMITS

The nations of the world - with a few notable exceptions - have subscribed to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty for 25 years. It's up for renewal and should be ratified again.,

Some of the nuclear have-nots are balking. but a dangerous world would get immeasurably more so if the eight nations now possessing nuclear weapons were to become 16 or 24 or 48. Many ambitious to join the club - Iran, Iraq, North Korea - are worrisome. If anything, a treaty with more teeth and a stricter inspection regimen is needed.

Robert Wright, writing in The New Republic, suggests that the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that awaits Senate ratification represents a good model for future arms-control deals. Violations of the convention can lead to a cut off of the chemicals in question. Since these are also used in the manufacture of plastics, ceramics and pharmaceuticals, an embargo would cause real pain.

Wright also warns that chemical weapons and even nukes may not be the biggest threat facing us. His nominees are biological weapons which he believes have come of age. They are now cheaper and easier to produce than ever before. Big factories aren't required, so greater stealth is possible. The equipment and recipes needed are easily obtained and concealed. An attack would be much harder to trace to its source than a nuclear or chemical attack which leaves clearer trails. And the deadliness is astonishing.

According to a report by the Office of Technology Assessment, a single warhead containing anthrax spores would be sufficient to kill between 30,000 and 100,000 if it landed on downtown Washington. And sophisticated delivery methods are not needed. A man in a plane or car could blanket an area and be gone days before the disease appeared.

The nuclear nonproliferation treaty needs to be renewed and strengthened if possible. The CWC should be ratified by the Senate. It represents a promising start toward control of that problem. But the greatest future security threat may lie in the direction of biological weapons. And so far there has been almost no international effort devoted to controlling them. Yet a release in a major urban center would make the Oklahoma City bombing look like a minor misfortune. by CNB