Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 Source: International Herald-Tribune (France) Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2000 Contact: 181, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, 92521 Neuilly Cedex, France Fax: (33) 1 41 43 93 38 Website: http://www.iht.com/ Author: Tim Golden, New York Times Service COLOMBIA YIELDS TO U.S. PRESSURE ON ANTI-DRUG HERBICIDE Under pressure from the United States, Colombia has reluctantly agreed to take the first step toward developing a powerful biological herbicide against the coca and heroin-poppy fields that are spreading almost unchecked across its countryside, according to officials from both countries. For years, U.S. officials have been quietly debating ways to conduct field tests of such an herbicide, developed from a fungus that occurs naturally in many types of coca and other plants. Now, Colombian officials say they are completing a proposal to the United Nations that would include testing for the presence of the fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, in coca, the raw material of cocaine. If the fungus is found in Colombian varieties of coca, Colombian scientists would then evaluate its effectiveness, safety and environmental impact before deciding whether to produce the herbicide. "What we want is a program of research - and only research - on the use of biological controls against these crops," said Juan Mayr, Colombia's environment minister. The Colombian government's uneasy support for the project comes as President Bill Clinton is about to sign a bill providing $1.3 billion in aid to Colombia to fight drug traffickers and the insurgents who protect their trade. Some powerful Republicans in the U.S. Congress told Colombian officials that they were supporting the spending on the expectation that Colombia would agree to explore the use of Fusarium fungus in its coca fields. Within the Clinton administration, officials said, the testing of fungal herbicides was also pushed by the White House anti-drug policy chief, Barry McCaffrey, and by officials of the U.S. Southern Command, which is overseeing an overhaul of Colombia's armed forces. Environmentalists and other activists in both countries are raising a din of objections to any field tests of the fungus, arguing that it is virtually a biological weapon -- one that might upset Colombia's ecology or endanger fanners, animals and food crops. Last year, similar complaints by enviromnentalists in Florida prompted state officials there to put aside plans to test a variant of Fusarium for possible use against marijuana fields. Several plant pathologists who have studied the fungus extensively said there was relatively little scientific basis for the assertions about its danger. They acknowledged that a great deal of testing still needs to be done, but they added that the most significant questions might have less to do with the safety of the fungus than with its effectiveness and cost. The concerns about Fusarium's proposed use as a mycoherbicide, or fungal herbicide, have been heightened by the shadowy history of research into its impact on drug crops. Indeed, the proposed Colombian study comes after years of often secret investigations by scientists in the United States and the former Soviet Union. Officials said Fusarium, a naturally occurring fungus with variants that can cause wilt in everything from tomatoes and grain to marijuana, was first identified as a possible weapon in the drug fight by CIA scientists in the early 1980s. 'Me U.S. Agriculture Department began more extensive research into the use of the fungus on coca in 1988, and it continued, mostly in secret, for nearly a decade. At roughly the same time, Soviet biological-weapons scientists at the Institute of Plant Genetics in Uzbekistan were working to develop Fusarium fungus, plant bacteria and other pathogens to destroy opium poppies. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States continued to pay for research at the laboratory as part of an effort to keep its impoverished scientists from joining the biological weapons programs of countries like Iraq and Iran. COCAINE USE IN EUROPE ON RISE The United States released estimates Wednesday pointing to a dramatic rise in the use of cocaine in Europe, bolstering its case for greater European involvement in helping Colombia wage war on drugs, Reuters reported from Washington. European countries, led by Spain, Germany and Italy, consumed 194 tons to 207 tons of cocaine last year, up from 104 tons to 110 tons in 1996, according to the study prepared by Mr. McCaffrey's office. Ninety percent of the cocaine flowing into Europe comes from Colombia, and is mostly smuggled in ships across the Atlantic, partly through Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador, according to the study. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens