cannabisnews.com: Herbicide Plan Premature





Herbicide Plan Premature
Posted by FoM on July 10, 2000 at 10:04:56 PT
From The Journal Sentinel
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Clinton administration is in danger of going overboard in its attempt to eradicate drug-producing plants in Colombia, pressing the government there to take the first step toward developing a powerful biological herbicide.The Colombians are reluctant to use these herbicides for fear they will damage food crops, people and farm animals. 
Similar fears in the United States prompted Florida officials last year to back away from testing such herbicides against marijuana. If these herbicides are too dangerous for use in the U.S., the administration has no right to press them on other nations.Backers of the program insist it is safe, pointing out that the herbicide being considered here would be developed from a fungus that occurs naturally in many types of coca, the plant that produces the raw material of cocaine.Still, the Colombians are leery about the whole idea; the nation's environmental minister told The New York Times that his government seeks "research - and only research" on the use of these herbicides.Their effectiveness is as uncertain as their impact on the environment. One expert said narco-farmers might do what farmers anywhere do: spray their crops with fungicides or develop strains of plants that are resistant to the fungus.The obvious first step here is rigorous, independent testing to see whether the herbicides are safe and effective. Until such tests are done, any decision to use these herbicides would be premature and reckless.Published: July 10, 2000Copyright: Milwaukee Journal SentinelNewsHawk: Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsinhttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/Related Articles:Colombia Tries New Drug Eradicationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6318.shtmlYikes! Attack Of The Killer Fungus Is A Moldy Planhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6315.shtmlColombia Agrees To Test Herbicide On Cocahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6306.shtmlKiller Fungus Could Be Drug War Weaponhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6285.shtmlDrug Control or Bio Warfare? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5616.shtml Fusarium Infections - July 1995http://www.id.wustl.edu/docs/handouts/fusarium.html 
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on July 10, 2000 at 15:18:50 PT:
Hmmm...Fungicides for the biological herbicides?
"One expert said narco-farmers might do what farmers anywhere do: spray their crops with fungicides or develop strains of plants that are resistant to the fungus."Okay, so the U.S. wants Colombia to use these fungi to combat the growing of coca--and the effects the fungi might have in large dosages across hundreds of acres of coca fields (I'm being conservative in my estimates here) are largely unknown, but potentially quite dangerous. And now we understand that the Colombian cartels may combat this problem by spraying fungicides to combat the fungi. So, now we will end up with two environmental hazards for the price of one! Bye bye, Colombian rain forests.:(
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