Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jul 2000
Source: San Luis Obispo County Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Tribune
Contact:  P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112
Fax: 805.781.7905
Website: http://www.thetribunenews.com/
Author: Tim Johnson, Knight Ridder Tribune

KILLER FUNGUS COULD BE DRUG WAR WEAPON

Critics In Colombia Say U.N. Plan Is Unsafe

BOGOTA, Colombia - On a tropical Hawaiian island, a killer fungus once 
ravaged a field of coca bushes that Coca-Cola hoped would provide flavoring 
for its soft drinks.

The plague in the 1970s ruined Coca-Cola's plan to buy coca outside the 
Andean region. But it excited counter-drug experts in Washington, who later 
spent millions of dollars, some of them secretly, on a multi-year quest for 
a biological weapon to destroy the Andean bushes fueling the cocaine trade.

Now, under prodding from Washington, a United Nations agency wants to test 
the laboratory-grown fungus on a small plot in Colombia, where much of the 
world's coca is grown. The proposal has whipped up a minor tempest. 
Opponents say the fungus might be toxic to farmers and wreak havoc on 
jungles that are treasures of biodiversity. Advocates say the fungus may 
become a "silver bullet" to kill coca plants and leave other plants unaffected.

"Our experts tell us that it is worth trying," said Klaus Nyholm, director 
of the U.N. Drug Control Program's office in Colombia and Ecuador.

U.S. scientists say they don't know yet whether the fungus would safely 
kill the nearly 300,000 acres of coca grown in Colombia without affecting 
other flora, or even human life.

"The tests show so far that it is a reasonably good control agent. But I 
wouldn't extrapolate from that that it will work in Colombia," said Eric 
Rosenquist, a national program leader at the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's Research Service in Beltsville, Md.

U.S. counter-drug experts, though, cite compelling reasons to experiment 
further with the fungus, fusarium oxysporum, which is considered a plant 
pathogen, or mycoherbicide.

For one, they say the fungus can be attached to seeds and dropped from high 
altitude. That beats the current strategy, in which U.S.-financed crop 
dusters buzz illegal coca fields at 150 feet or so - sometimes risking a 
hail of bullets from the ground. Gunmen have hit spray planes 36 times so 
far this year, U.S. officials say. Moreover, planes could fly at night to 
drop the fungus, using sensors to target coca fields.

"It looks incredibly promising," said Richard Baum, a policy analyst at the 
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "However, we are 
waiting for the results of tests, and will proceed only if the scientists 
working with the government of Colombia tell us that mycoherbicides are safe."

Doubts exist whether a limited test in Colombia will even take place.

While aides to President Andres Pastrana have reportedly expressed a "keen 
interest" to the U.N. agency to test the fungus, Environment Minister Juan 
Mayr told The Herald he is adamantly opposed.

"I told them, 'Gentlemen, your project is not welcome,' " Mayr said.

Last year, amid an outcry from environmentalists and ranchers, Florida 
shelved a plan to test another strain of fusarium oxysporum against 
marijuana crops.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D