geneva Slow progress made on control of biological weapons

DISPATCHES

WASHINGTON

Colombian U’wa face hazards of oil drilling

tion of the cost of living, badlyArauca, 100 miles east of Samoré, ccidental Petroleum (Los skewed income distribution, forced have been attacked by ELN guerrillas Angeles, CA, USA) stands to relocations, and hazardous living 473 times in 11 years. Occidental has make millions in profits if it starts full conditions. The release of toxic subnow paid for two Colombian army production from an enormous oil stances, disruption of water supplies, brigades to defend the pipelines. field in Samoré, northeast Colombia. and acid rain generated by petroleum The U’wa’s The area is terriextraction have damaged crops and fears of ecological tory to the U’wa— have virtually wiped out fish populaand social disrup5000 indigenous tions, destroying the ancestral livelition are not people who have hoods of many of the inhabitants. unfounded. The lived in the cloudStudies done in the area by José documented conforests of the Luis Cortés Peñaloza, a Mexican sequences of oil Andes from time researcher, have shown that cancer exploitation in immemorial. In and leukaemia are increasing in all Colombia include 1992, Occidental age groups. According to Peñaloza, pollution of the signed an agreethe increase is greatest in children— air, waterways, ment with the leukaemia rated sixth as a cause of and soil, death Colombian gov- Protecting the U’wa heritage child mortality in 1991, but had risen of wildlife, land ernment for exploto third place by 1995. The highest degradation, and climate changes. In ration rights, and can start drilling at leukaemia incidences were reported the past decade, about 1·7 million any time. Since then, the U’wa have in petroleum-producing areas. barrels of crude oil have been spilled strongly opposed the exploration and The U’wa in Colombia could still throughout Colombia because of exploitation of their sacred land, fearavoid the worst of the problems pipeline sabotage—the Exxon Valdez ing the effects on their environment, seen in Tabasco. Robert Benson, a spill was about 260 000 barrels. In health, and quality of life. professor of law at Loyola Law the south, thousands of Inga, Siona, The U’wa consider it their collecSchool in Los Angeles, notes that and Kofan Indians have had to relotive duty to care for the Earth that “international law has incorporated cate after the construction of oil has nurtured them, and have threatvirtually all the natural law norms we roads and pipelines contaminated ened mass suicide if Occidental need to halt the destruction of the their fresh water supplies. carries out its plans. Confronted with planet . . . Oil drilling on land that If oil exploitation proceeds in this opposition, Occidental’s current threatens an indigenous people with Samoré, the U’wa will face the same partner Royal/Dutch Shell reportedly cultural death and conproblems now besieging wants to withdraw from the project. tributes to environmenthe state of Tabasco in Colombia’s 1991 constitution “The U’wa . . . have tal destruction is illegal. Mexico. For the past 2 requires the government to protect its threatened mass Nations cannot authodecades, this area has 84 indigenous tribes. But, the govbeen experiencing an suicide if Occidental rize it. Companies canernment has an equal duty to develop carries out its not engage in it”. ecological and social the country’s resources to benefit What is needed in crisis stemming from everybody. Although the U’wa terriplans” Colombia is the politithe reckless exploitation tory is protected, the U’wa don’t own cal will to protect the of the state’s oil the territory’s mineral rights. indigenous people and their environreserves by Petróleos Mexicanos, the From the start, the project has ment from the dire consequences of national oil company. Although been accompanied by violence. Oil unregulated oil extraction. Economic this exploitation has generated has attracted thousands of people in development of a country should not US$130 billion over 20 years for the search of work, as well as armed occur at the expense of its populagovernment, the state is the ninth guerrillas from the Revolutionary tion’s health. poorest in Mexico. Poorly planned Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and regulated oil extraction in and the National Liberation Army Tabasco has resulted in rapid escala(ELN). Occidental’s installations in César Chelala Panos Pictures

O

GENEVA

Slow progress made on control of biological weapons

D

espite Iraq’s chilling attempts to deceive United Nations inspectors, negotiations to control compliance with the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) are proceeding at a snail’s pace. A 3-week session of the 52-nation ad hoc working group ended here on July 10 with a 250-page “rolling” text containing about 3000 reservations from participating countries. Further meetings are scheduled in September, but despite a recent plethora of high-level pleas to the

THE LANCET • Vol 352 • July 18, 1998

negotiators—including a joint call for “acceleration” by the USA and China—the chance of an agreed text before 1999 seems small indeed. Formal talks on a protocol to verify compliance started in 1995 when the BWC was already notorious for its total lack of verification measures. By contrast, the control body of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention is fully operative with 416 staff. Ensuring effective BWC supervision is vastly more difficult, given, among other factors, the

pace of scientific evolution. Even ensuring basic requirements, such as inspection visits, will be difficult. The European Union’s position is that “a delicate balance” has to be struck between deterring violations and avoiding risk to national security or commercial confidentiality. Also, a ban on specific micro-organisms or fermenters could seriously harm peaceful research and production. Alan McGregor

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