FUNGUS CAN PLAY A ROLE IN DRUG WAR

To the editor:

I was glad to see the St. Petersburg Times editorial, A promising drug plan
(Sept. 7), praising Florida drug czar James McDonough's efforts to reduce
drug abuse in our state. McDonough has, in his short tenure, explored many
innovative strategies for curtailing drug use, including a biological
herbicide to eradicate marijuana crops.

Times associate editor Martin Dyckman and columnist Bill Maxwell don't like
this idea, though. Both have written columns in recent weeks denouncing the
practice of using the natural enemies of plants (insects, fungi and
bacteria) to control unwanted growth. This technology is not new to Florida.
The strangler vine has been successfully controlled in Florida citrus groves
for years with a plant fungus which, unlike chemical herbicides, destroys
the vine while having no effect on the citrus trees, other plants or animals.

The unfounded paranoia of Dyckman and Maxwell implies that relatively little
is known about genetically engineered fungi. In fact, there has been much
significant research on this soil-borne fungus resulting in nearly 10,000
scientific journal articles in the last 15 years alone. There exist 80
special forms of Fusarium in the United States, each with its own specific
host. As is the case with every agent for plant control, Fusarium for
control of cannabis will undergo the most stringent of laboratory,
greenhouse and field tests.

It should be the desire of all Floridians to allow McDonough to test this
promising technology. The effects of the illicit drug trade in Florida are
too serious not to explore all safe and effective means of illicit crop
eradication.

Betty S. Sembler, Founder, Drug Free America Foundation Inc., St. Petersburg