So industrial states with large numbers of urban heroin users squeezed the source of needles by barring sales without a prescription.

Pakistan paid $658 million for the planes, but delivery was blocked by President Bush under a law that barred military sales to nations with nuclear programs.

The global diffusion of technology makes it impossible for the U.S. to bar sales on its own.

The ruling will allow banks to sell insurance in 15 states, including Connecticut, Florida and New Jersey, that had barred such sales.

But U.S. regulations have barred sales to these countries for years.

One option under discussion is to bar additional sales of cluster munitions for some period, an official said.

As a result, some firms and fund companies have limited the amount of B shares that brokers can sell; others have barred sales of them altogether.

Mr. Feldman's group filed a lawsuit late last year, charging that the agreement violated Federal law and that the agency should bar sales from stockpiles.

Reflecting the virtual absence of any international legal controls, the treaty would bar only sales to "nonstate actors" like rebels, terrorist groups and criminal organizations.

On Tuesday, the Vermont legislature rejected a proposal that would have temporarily barred sales of the drug.