This is only one of many reports I've
seen from around the world about the United States' new weapon in its war on
drugs, , Fusarium oxysporum. Originaly slated to be
used against crops in Florida, so many objections were raised in congress that
our government is going to test it in Africa and South America instead.
This geneticaly-enginered product is untested and can
mutate to kill other plants, biologicaly related to those targeted.
If we defoliate the planet, that
would reduce drug use for a while, untill everyone either died of starvation or
set up labs to produce synthetic drugs. Well how about if we kill all the
vegatation AND all the people, that might stop it.
Where will this insanity end ?
Kenyans Object to Fungal
Control of Narcotics, Cannabis
By Naftali Mungai,
Environment News Service
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 25, 2000 (ENS) - In the
latest effort to eradicate
illegal drugs, American scientists are
experimenting on genetically
modified strains of fungi that will identify and
destroy opium poppy
plants, coca plants and cannabis.
A representative
of the environmental group, The Sunshine, told delegates
to the fifth meeting
of signatories to the Convention on Biological
Diversity in Nairobi in May
that the United States Department of
Agriculture, and the American Department
of Defence are jointly working on
research they call "Operation End Smoke."
Operation End Smoke's goal is to eradicate illegal drug plantations
around
the world.
The fungi, Fusarium oxysporum, could target
millions of hectares of
narcotic crops in South America, Central Asia and
Africa.
Last week, ENS reported that the United Nations and the
Colombian
government are discussing potential cooperation to test
mycoherbicides,
fungal biological control agents that could be used to
control coca
cultivation. The United States, where the majority of Colombia's
illegal
crop is sold, has allocated $3 million to the UN to help fund these
tests.
Environmentalists in Kenya are concerned that once highly
infectious fungi
are released, they may mutate and spread. Professor Wangari
Maathai, the
coordinator of the Green Belt Movement, says that Kenya should
oppose such
use of viruses and fungi because of their potentially profound
effects on
the environment.
"Use of Fusarium fungi or any other
laboratory multiplied virus should be
opposed because of the potential harm
they pose to biodiversity," said
Maathai. "The use of these microbes is
misguided. America's intentions are
suspect. If it were genuine in the war
against drugs, it would use all safe
avenues available."
Dr. Agatha
Janet of International Science For Life agrees. "Fusarium may
curtail the
production of narcotics but the danger they pose to the
biodiversity and
livelihood of people who grow pharmaceutical plants of
narcotic species
surpasses the goodwill intended," she said.
"Related species of plants
might be attacked by the Fusarium fungi because
there isn't any guarantee for
crop target specification."
Fearing a backlash, the U.S. wants to
broaden participation in the project.
"We urge the United Nations Drug
Control Program (UNDCP) to solicit funds
from other governments in order to
avoid the perception that this is solely
a United States government
initiative," said U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright in a cable
message sent to UNDCP.
Some countries have already passed legislation
banning the use of
biological agents in the elimination of narcotic crops.
Peru passed a law prohibiting the use of biological agents in
coca
eradication. Bolivia and Thailand have banned the use of Fusarium fungi
or
related biological micro-organisms in the elimination of illegal crops.
"The government of the U.S. is playing roulette with
irreplaceable
biological biodiversity," said Susana Pimiento, a Colombian
lawyer with The
Sunshine. "In Colombia where Fusarium fungi are to be used,
four close
relatives of coca are classified as endangered. This might be the
last step
to their extinction," said Pimiento.
Ecologists and
environmentalists at the Convention on Biological Diversity
negotiations in
May were concerned that some strains of Fusarium oxysporum
can infect even
distantly related plants and destabilize the ecosystem of
living species,
such as the prized butterfly Agrius, which depends on the
coca's leaves for
maturity and feeding.
"Birds feeding on narcotic crops are endangered.
If they consume these
plants after Fusarium fungi have been released into the
field, available
data shows that they produce mycotoxins that are deadly,"
says Edwin Meme,
a Kenyan toxicologist.
If the Kenyan government uses
Fusarium fungi to fight narcotics, especially
bhang, otherwise known as
cannabis, this could set back conservation of the
ecosystem around Mount
Kenya. Mount Kenya is a vital water catchment area,
already reeling from the
effects of deforestation to accommodate a huge
acreage of bhang.
Last
year the government embarked on the large scale destruction of
bhang
plantations in Mount Kenya forest. Unable to curtail farming of the
drugs,
aerial spray was suggested as an alternative but abandoned after
protests
by environmentalists.
Under the Cartagena Protocol, no
country can release modified living
organisms into the biodiversity of
another country unless the recipient
country is sure of the safety of the
organisms being released, and adheres
to the provision of environmental
safety and clearing mechanisms.
"If the United States releases these
fungi without consulting any country,
and finally the whole project turns
disastrous to the biodiversity, who
will be accountable since America is not
a member to the Cartagena
Protocol?" asked a delegate from Canada.
A
declassified report released by the U.S. government to allay fears that
it is
cloning virulent genes to combat narcotics says: "The U.S. government
is not
researching genetically engineered, but genetically modified
strains, which
are still being researched on. They are not yet released or
about to be
released to the field."
In 1988, the United Nations Economic and Social
Council stated that drug
eradication programs should exhaust manual,
mechanical or chemical
herbicides for controlling weeds, but not biological
agents.
The U.S. government insists that the fungi being experimented on
are for
the global benefit since governments of the countries where narcotics
are
grown will shift scarce resources currently used to fight illegal plants
to
needy national projects.
Biological control agents being
considered for use on Columbia's coca crop
will not proceed without the full
cooperation and approval of the Colombian
government.
"Although
initial excuses are that the fungi are not currently earmarked
for
application in Africa, this is not true. For the plan to eradicate
narcotics
to be successful, it must have universal application. Otherwise,
there is no
sense in application in some countries while others continue to
grow them,"
said Jefferson Henry, a crop researcher.
© Environment News
Service (ENS) 2000. All Rights Reserved.
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