COLOMBIA TRIES NEW DRUG ERADICATION

WASHINGTON (AP) - Colombia has agreed to work with the U.N. Drug
Control Agency on field testing a fungicide that some experts believe
has great potential for eradicating narcotics plants.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday the fungicide
is expected be tested over a two-year period and then ``it will be up
to the government of Colombia to evaluate the results and determine
the next steps.''

Colombian Environmental Minister Juan Mayr said the tests will be
conducted outside of Colombia ``because any agent foreign to the
native ecosystems of our country could present grave risks to the
environment and human health.''

The statement, issued by his office in Bogota, was in a letter to The
New York Times, which first reported the planned tests on Thursday.
Mayr claimed his remarks had been misinterpreted.

Mayr was quoted by the Times as saying in an interview: ``What we want
is a program of research - and only research - on the use of
biological controls against these crops.''

Advocates say the fungicide, known as fusarium oxysporum, could be the
answer in the long search for a means of reversing what has been a
steady growth in the production of coca leaf and opium poppy in Colombia.

Colombian drug cartels have been able to offset extensive chemical
spraying by opening up new areas for cultivating narcotics plants.

The proponents say a big advantage of the fungus is that it grows
naturally, is safe for the environment, and that decades must pass
before a treated area is suitable again for growing narcotics plants.

Agriculture Department tests have shown that the fungus will kill
narcotics plants without harming other plants or animal life,
advocates say.

``These micro-organisms have the potential to cripple drug crops
before they are even harvested,'' one proponent, Republican Sen. Mike
DeWine of Ohio, has said.

DeWine was unavailable for comment on Thursday, but an aide said the
Colombia decision was ``a positive step forward.''

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
there will be other hurdles to clear if the tests show the product is
feasible.

The next problem would be to find a way to produce the fungicide in
quantities that will yield the desired results. In addition, a
delivery mechanism has to be found, the official said.

Administration officials have become increasingly alarmed about the
repeated failure of an extensive eradication program to reverse what
they call an ``explosion'' in coca production in Colombia.

A CIA estimate in January showed a substantial increase in coca
cultivation, and there is no reason to believe the next estimate, due
in January 2001, will not show another increase, the State Department
official said.

Congress recently approved legislation to provide $1.3 billion to
Colombia to fight narcotraffickers and the insurgents who protect the
drug trade.