The article by Tu Thanh Ha { "The sinister business of biological warfare" Nov. 20} lists six countries as having or trying to develop chemical or biological weapons, namely, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Interestingly this list, developed by the US, has the characteristic selectivity in omitting any mention of Israel, which has a well-documented history of developing and using chemical and biological weapons.

Israeli use of chemical weapons is on record in the botched attempt to assassinate Khalid Meshal in Amman in 1997, by Mossad agents using forged Canadian passports. Israeli work on the development of chemical weapons was reported in The Globe & Mail , Feb. 8,1999 in the article: " Netherlands begins inquiry in 1992 crash with secret cargo: Flight said to be carrying toxic chemicals that made thousands of workers sick."

As to work on biological weapons, The Sunday Herald in Halifax published, on Nov. 15, 1998, the report titled " The Ethnic Bomb: Israeli weapon would kill Arabs, spare Jews." This report was based on a report in The Sunday Times, in London, by Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin describing research work to develop this ethnic bomb. The report stated that : " The programme is based at the Biological Institute in Nes Tziona, the main research facility for Israel's clandestine arsenal of chemical and biological weapons." Dedi Zucker, a member of Knesset, Israel's parliament, condemned this work.