Fact Sheet: Colombia, U.N. Discussing Anti-Coca Mycoherbicide Cooperation

(U.S. has allocated $3 million for U.N. tests)  (680)

The U.S. State Department issued a fact sheet July 17 on discussions
between Colombia and the United Nations on the testing of a biological
agent, or mycoherbicide, that could be used to control illicit coca
cultivation. The United States has allocated $3 million to the U.N. to
help fund these tests, according to the release.

Following is the text:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

July 17, 2000

FACT SHEET

COLOMBIA:  UNDCP MYCOHERBICIDE PROJECT

The Government of Colombia and the UN International Drug Control
Program (UNDCP) are discussing potential cooperation to test a
biological control agent that could be used to control illicit coca
cultivation. The U.S. has allocated $3 million of funds appropriated
in Fiscal Year 1999 to the UN to help fund these tests.

No testing of such an agent has been done in Colombia and none will
proceed without the full cooperation and approval of the Colombian
government.

The discussions on this subject are proceeding against the backdrop of
Colombian government commitment to eliminate illicit coca cultivation.
Colombia's 122,000-hectare coca crop is the largest in the world,
accounting for about 70% of illicit coca worldwide. Colombia's crop
has doubled since 1995. Much of the increase is in guerrilla-dominated
areas where antinarcotics forces have little access and face huge
security risks.

Coca cultivation and processing pose serious hazards to Colombia's
ecology. Several hectares of rain forest are slashed and burned for
every hectare of coca planted. For each hectare of coca grown and
processed into cocaine, growers and traffickers, with no respect for
the environment, generate and dump an estimated two tons of
pesticides, fertilizers and toxic processing chemical waste into
Colombia's soils, streams, and rivers.

Mycoherbicides are a form of biological control. Biological control is
the science and technology of controlling pests using naturally
occurring enemies of that pest. Mycoherbicides focus on
agricultural-related targets -- in this case illicit coca cultivation
-- using fungal biological control agents in the place of chemical
herbicides.

The reliance on naturally-occurring agents means that mycoherbicide
technology involves no genetic engineering or alteration. In this
regard, mycoherbicides are a potentially cheaper and environmentally
safer way to eradicate illicit drug crops than chemical herbicides.

The research, development, and potential application of mycoherbicides
in this narcotics control context is identical to the way
mycoherbicides are being used to control pests, promote agricultural
development, and advance environmentally sound integrated pest
management worldwide.

So far, testing of mycoherbicides to control coca has been limited to
laboratory research and limited field testing in the U.S. Results have
been promising: these tests identified a mycoherbicide that attacked
only coca plants, killed them, and did not spread to any other host.
It has been effective and, from the important environmental and health
safety perspectives, both host and area-specific.

The Colombia tests are needed to develop definitive data on the safety
and efficacy of these agents in their intended environment. The
project would be undertaken through a comprehensive set of field
trials at secure small sites (probably less than a hectare each)
provided by the Government of Colombia.

The proposed test in Colombia would use only Fusarium that occurs
naturally in Colombia. No biological control agent exogenous to
Colombia would be used.

The project calls for creation of an International Panel of Experts to
design and approve the final research program. An international
consultant, working with a project manager from the implementing
agency in Colombia, would design and monitor progress of experiments.

The U.S. is meanwhile funding several million dollars worth of
complementary research to identify and develop safe and effective
biological controls to combat pests that plague cacao, bananas,
coffee, and other alternative development crops to replace narcotics
production.

The herbicide now being used in Colombia is glyphosate, a widely
tested non-toxic chemical herbicide that is used extensively
worldwide. Glyphosate is not a mycoherbicide.

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)