WHEREAS, the Unitarian Universalist Association has long opposed the escalation of the arms race and the threat it poses to humanity; and

WHEREAS, the United States has many thousands of tons of chemical warfare agents stockpiled in the United States and abroad; and

WHEREAS, besides their possible use as weapons, these stockpiles also represent potential danger to human life and to the environment where they are located; and

WHEREAS, in FY 1981 Congress has appropriated $23.15 million for renovating and equipping a facility in Pine Bluffs, Arkansas, to produce lethal binary nerve gas; and

WHEREAS, there were no hearings on this funding or on the desirability or need for this new class of weapon; and

WHEREAS, the United States Science Defense Board has recommended an additional $7 to $9.4 billion for this program over the next five years; and

WHEREAS, there has been little consultation with our allies regarding development of these weapons and the deployment on their soil; and

WHEREAS, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has produced a new class of chemical weapons in over a decade and United States introduction of this new class would affect radically this joint policy of mutual restraint;

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1981 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges that all districts, societies, and individuals work to achieve:

1. The prohibition of the storage and the transportation of CBW agents without prior public announcement and consultation with state and local legally designated officials;
2. The cessation of research and production of CBW agents, except where such research is directed toward neutralization of existing stocks;
3. The extension of the 1969 US-USSR treaty prohibiting chemical warfare to include a total ban on research, production, and stockpiling of CBW agents;
4. International agreement outlawing CBW agents; and
5. The education of the general public relative to biological and chemical warfare agents.