Introduction
Introduction
In a pact signed June 1, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to drastic cuts in their stockpiles of chemical weapons and pledged not to build new ones. They also agreed to press for progress in Geneva, where 40 nations are negotiating an international treaty to ban chemical weapons altogether. The agreement was touted as a major achievement, but critics say the bilateral pact will be difficult, if not impossible, to verify. They also question whether a meaningful multilateral treaty will ever be ratified, and they worry about the use of biological or chemical weapons by terrorists.