What role did it play in the international bioweapons network?
It was the centre of British research but had very close links to Canada and the U.S., under a tripartite agreement with Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. But it also had former Soviet scientists – who used to be the enemy – working there. And (Wouter) Basson (who had worked on South Africa’s clandestine bioweapons program) was there, too. There was an exchange of information and a sharing of technology. The former head of Swiss military intelligence was (allegedly) implicated in working with Basson. This is an extremely shadowy world. Since 1972 there has been a very tough treaty to ban biological weapons. Has it been a failure? The problem is no verification measures. The treaty on chemical weapons is good, with a large staff and inspections protocols. On the biological side there are none, and there’s just an office manned by one and a half people, one working part-time. What they do is organize meetings. On paper it’s good. In reality there’s no way to enforce the treaty. So
