WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- Washington needs to take action to stop using cluster munitions with a high rate of failure, a group of U.S. lawmakers said.
U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., joined other lawmakers calling for restrictions in cluster munitions.
Feinstein said cluster bombs with high rates of failure have a "terrible toll" on human lives because many unexploded ordnance turn into de facto land mines, leaving affected land unusable.
Feinstein said plans were made in 2008 to stop using cluster bombs with a failure rate higher than 1 percent but those rules won't go into force until 2018.
"That's simply too long to wait; every day of delay means more innocent lives are placed at risk," she said in a statement.
Cluster bombs break up over a target and disperse hundreds of tiny bomblets over a widespread area. The proposed measure calls on the U.S. president to report to Congress on plans to clean up unexploded cluster bombs but has provisions waiving any prohibitions if national security interests are at stake.
An international convention prohibiting and eventually banning the use of cluster bombs went into force in August. Washington isn't a party to the measure.
