Colombia will not use Fungal Herbicide
Folha de S. Paulo
September 3, 2000
At Brazil's request, the Colombian Minister of the Environment, Juan Mayr, has made a formal commitment that Colombia will not use biological weapons in the Amazon. Furthermore, any experiments with transgenic organisms in the region will be accompanied by Brazilian representatives. The organism in question is the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, developed by the United States to specifically destroy coca crops. So far, the U.S.A. wants Colombia to wait for the fungus to be tested before committing not to use it. The problem is that Colombia's drug war will initially be focused on banks of rivers that flow into the Brazilian Amazon. The danger is that the fungus could infect species other than coca, and especially since it is transgenic it could mutate to kill further species. If Colombia gives in to American pressure and uses the fungus, Brazil will invoke the Biodiversity Convention, which allows countries to be prosecuted if the put their species of flora and fauna at risk.