100 Million Potential Killers : Global moratorium on exporting of land mines is urged by United States

Land mines are not ordinarily thought of as weapons of mass destruction, but 100 million of these devices scattered around the globe will do a massive amount of destruction before all are detonated or cleared.

Some were directed at tanks and can be triggered easily only by large vehicles. Millions of others, however, were intended to stop enemy soldiers, and these may now kill or maim anyone--often enough, a child--who chances to step on them.

Tragically, some of the most heavily mined countries--nations like Afghanistan and Cambodia--are also among the medically most backward. The loss of a limb is a medical catastrophe in any country, but in these nations the cost is especially high.

Removing mines is a Gargantuan task, one for which only primitive technology has been developed. But halting the planting of new mines is a separate and equally important task.

Congress has voted to extend a one-year moratorium on U.S. mine exports to three years, and on Dec. 7 the Clinton Administration wrote to 40 mine-exporting countries asking them to join the moratorium.

Later this month the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a non-binding resolution calling for a global moratorium.

Whether China, Italy, the former Soviet republics and various other mine exporters will respect the moratorium is uncertain, but Congress and the Clinton Administration are to be applauded for quietly taking a first step.