Speech by Gary Granger, International Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ireland, at the conference "Strengthening the threat of the use of biological weapons by NATO against the background of aggravation of international contradictions".

The WPI greets all the parties present and applauds the efforts to highlight the increasing threat of the use of biological weapons. Biological weapons are part of an arsenal of weapons sometimes referred to as unconventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction, which also includes chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons.

Biological and toxin weapons are either microorganisms like virus, bacteria or fungi, or toxic substances produced by living organisms that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants. 

The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was designed to prohibit the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons. It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Imperialism has a long history of the use of such weapons. The massive use of napalm and biological weapons by the US during the war in Korea is well known and those crimes were denounced by the World Peace Council and other international organisations and movements. The US even contemplated massive nuclear strikes over Korea, China and the Soviet Union.

A Commission established by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers unanimously found that the United States was guilty of crimes against humanity during the Korean War.

The US government also has a long history of using biological and chemical warfare against socialist Cuba. This included sabotage of the sugar harvest in the 1960s and the introduction of African swine fever to Cuba in 1971. The U.S. introduced a virulent strain of dengue fever in Cuba, as a result of which 273,000 people on the island came down with the illness and 158 died, including 101 children. These are just a few examples of U.S. biological warfare against Cuba.

The construction by the Pentagon of a BSL-4 laboratory in the south of Kazakhstan with an underground repository of the most dangerous pathogens from around the world poses a major threat to Kazakhstan, the region and the world. 

Accordingly, the issue of the development and production of biological weapons remains critically relevant for the international movement for peace.  At a time of heightened international tensions and increasing imperialist threats, aggression and war the threat of the use of biological weapons by the US and its allies is a serious concern. There is a real risk of further escalation.

It is clear that Ukraine possesses biological laboratories funded by the US. This is very dangerous. It can cause millions of victims, including the risk of accident.

The WPI opposes imperialist plans for the development and use of biological and toxin weapons. The people of our countries must be made aware of the destructive consequences of such weapons. This will include the demand for a halt to the production of all biological and toxin weapons pending the liquidation of all such weapons. The increasingly destructive force of these weapons and the enormous expenditure on such weapons demand a response.

This must be accompanied by the demands of the communist and workers’ parties for the elimination of the danger of imperialist war and the strengthening of efforts for peace.
 
G. Grainger
International Secretary
February 25, 2023