Australia Group Marks 20th Year of Battling Chemical and Biological Weapons Proliferation

An international effort to establish common export controls for chemical and biological weapons technology marked its 20th year this week by adding Ukraine as a member and adopting additional technologies to its list of restricted exports (see GSN, April 18).

Fifteen nations initiated the Australia Group in 1985, seeking to form common, voluntary rules to restrict the international trade of technology and materials that could be used to produce chemical and biological weapons.

Now counting 39 nations as members, including Ukraine, the group ended its annual plenary meeting in Sydney yesterday and announced that it had expanded its control lists to include aerosol sprayers that could disperse biological agents, according to a press release.

In addition, the group revised controls on pumps and genetically modified organisms, and it agreed to consider adding as many as 25 additional biological agents to its control lists, the release says (Australian Foreign Ministry release, April 22).

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