Pubdate: Sun, 19 Nov 2000
Source: New York Post (NY)
Copyright: 2000, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact:  http://nypostonline.com/
Author: Niles Lathem

U.S. GROWS KILLER FUNGUS TO FIGHT HEROIN

A secret U.S.-funded biological weapon to wipe out the heroin trade is in 
the final stages of development, raising fears in the scientific community 
that a monster germ will wreak an "ecological catastrophe."

For the past two years, scientists funded by the U.S. and British 
governments have been developing a killer fungus that they say destroys the 
opium poppies that produce the raw material for heroin.

Their base of operations is a lab in a high-security former Soviet 
biological weapons lab in Uzbekistan called the Uzbekistan Genetics Institute.

Now, scientists at the rundown plant are using their lethal expertise not 
only to isolate the fungus known as Pleospora Papaverecea, but also to 
figure how to genetically engineer it to make it more aggressive, according 
to United Nations officials supervising the project.

They've also developed a formula in which the fungus spores would be mixed 
with a talc and silica gel to make it a liquid weapon that could be sprayed 
from aircraft over poppy fields in central Asia.

The idea, says Edward Rosenquist, director of International Operations for 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to create a safe, cheap and 
efficient "silver bullet" to eradicate drug crops rather than use harmful 
and expensive chemical herbicides.

Lab testing of the new weapon has recently been completed and the Uzbeki 
group's research soon will be submitted to the larger scientific community 
for "peer review," said Sandro Tucci, director of the U.N.'s Drug Control 
Program, which is supervising the project.

Tucci told The Post that in field trials the genetically manipulated fungus 
caused opium poppies to wilt and die but left 130 other species unharmed.

But the possible introduction of the genetically altered organism into the 
environment has created a firestorm.

"This is biological warfare. It runs the risk of causing an ecological 
catastrophe. It is a hideously bad idea," said Ed Hammonds of the Sunshine 
Project, an Austin, Texas-based public interest group.

Many scientists warn that the culture could mutate and attack other plants 
- - and possibly animals and humans.

"There are all kinds of ways that the DNA of the organism could spread, 
mutate and create hybrids, and I think there needs to be a great deal of 
care put into this before it is even considered," said Dr. Sheldon Krimsky, 
professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Tufts.

There are also fears that, once sprayed in Afghanistan, for example, 
terrorist groups could easily gain access to the fungus and use it to 
create their own organisms for revenge attacks on other crops.

Tucci calls such fears unfounded.

"The idea that this is some kind of plot from 'Dr. No' that a monster is 
being created in a laboratory is nonsense. The United Nations does not 
engage in these kinds of things," he said.

The Clinton administration last year won congressional approval to spend 
$23 million to research "bio-active" materials for the war on drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens