WEST GERMANY- Business Ties Inhibit Joining Anti-Libya Sanctions

various investigations. The Morcha members produced the various charters of demands which they had submitted to the representatives of the government, including both the former and the present chief ministers, since January 1985 and also referred to the ongoing struggle of the gas victims for collection of such evidence and subsequent government inaction towards this end thus weakening the victims' case. The Morcha member had further made constructive suggestions tor collecting whatever evidence was still available even at that late stage. These suggestions were submitted to the Director, Claims, in November 1985 through a memo- randum, and, when no positive response was available, were incorporated in a writ petition filed in the M P High Court. These suggestions consisted of opthalmological measuiements to assess damage to the eyes, measurements by an electronic spirometer and pulmonary function machine to assess damage to the respiratory system, exercise tolerence tests to assess the loss of physical capacity, estimation of urinary thiocyanate levels to quantify the levels of cyanide m the body and neurological tests to assess the damage to the nervous system and senses. The lawyers agreed that all such tests would lead to generation of contributory evidence of significant value and opined that any further delay in collecting such data would be harm fillto the interests of the gas victims. It was not however, clear if the US attorneys had in fact advised the government on the crucial relevance of such data and the urgent need to collect the same.