I AM HORRIFIED by the US Senate’s refusal to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
(New Scientist, 6 November 1999, p 18). I asked defence
ministers how the British government had reacted to this bad news. Armed forces
minister John Spellar replied that Britain has expressed its disappointment both
privately and publicly. Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhardt
Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac even voiced their disquiet in a
joint opinion article much publicised in the US.
But the Senate vote is not the end of the treaty, said Spellar. The US
Congress has agreed to…
