Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, usually called the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, is an arms control agreement, which was signed on April 10, 1972, which entered into force on March 26, 1975.

The convention endorses the Geneva Protocol of 1925 in prohibiting the use of biological weapons and extends it with a prohibition on development, storage or transfer, with exceptions for medical and defensive purposes in small quantities. However it lacks inspection provisions and has been described as more of an expression of the international norms than a practical means of disarmament or a restriction of proliferation.

See also: weapons of mass destruction

External Links

Text of the Convention (http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/text/bwc.htm)