A TWO-EDGED SWORD FOR THE WAR ON DRUGS

U.S. thinks deadly herbicide is just right for Colombia's fields

BOGOTA, Colombia - It is so strong that just a few granules sprinkled over a
pesky tuft of grass on a driveway in San Francisco killed an oak tree
several metres away.

Dow Agro Sciences, the manufacturer of the herbicide known as Tebuthiuron,
or Spike, warns customers never to apply it near trees, water sources or any
place where it can accidentally kill desirable plant life. Dow specifically
says this is not the product for wide-scale eradication of illicit drug crops.

Which is how U.S. authorities want to see it used in Colombia.

Dow, the same corporation that manufactured the controversial defoliant
Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, is in the unusual position of siding
with international environmental groups against a U.S. proposal to make
Tebuthiuron a centerpiece in Colombia's war on drugs.

President Ernesto Samper's government, which is under heavy U.S. pressure to
to wipe out more drug crops, says it is reviewing a report by U.S.
government researchers listing Tebuthiuron as the most effective of several
potential eradication chemicals.

The researchers insist the herbicide can be used safely.

Environmental groups and concerned politicians in Colombia are warning of
potential disaster.

"It's insanity," says federal legislator Alegria Fonseca. "This chemical was
never designed for eradication. It was meant to be applied on weeds in
industrial parks . . . It is not selective in what it wipes out."

Dow spokesman Ted McKinney agrees. "Tebuthiuron is not labeled for use on
any crops in Colombia, and it is our desire that this product not be used
for illicit crop eradication," he says. "It can be very risky in situations
where the territory has slopes, rainfall is significant, desirable plants or
trees are nearby, and application is made under less-than-ideal circumstances."

Colombia is the principal supplier of most cocaine and heroin consumed in
the United States, and the debate goes to the heart of U.S. and Colombian
efforts to curb that. The amount of land under illicit cultivation has
nearly doubled in the past five years to around 60,000 hectares, according
to government statistics.

"This is a struggle that Colombia will continue to deal with, independent of
what the United States thinks," says Attorney-General Jaime Bernal Cuellar.

"If we can't succeed with the fumigation process we're using, we will have
to try something better," he says. "At the same time, we can't permit the
use of chemicals that might harm our environment and our people just because
it helps the war on drugs."

But Colombia's anti-narcotics police commander, Col. Leonardo Gallego, backs
a change to Spike.

The problem is that the more environment-friendly herbicide preferred by the
Colombian government -- Glyfosate, known commercially as "Roundup" -- must
be applied by crop-dusters flying slowly and close to the ground. And the
crop-dusting planes are the target of guerrilla groups that protect illicit
fields, labs and airstrips.

Besides, Glyfosate can be picked up and diverted by wind or dissolved by
rainwater, two factors that have radically reduced its effectiveness, a U.S.
state department official says.

The official says Glyfosate's rate of effectiveness was less than 50 per
cent in 1996.

U.S. Department of Agriculture herbicide researcher Charles Helling says
Tebuthiuron can be applied from high altitudes and fast speeds in any
conditions, with a far higher rate of effectiveness.

He says he has tested the herbicide under circumstances simulating the
tropical weather conditions and topography of Colombia and found little to
justify the type of concerns expressed by Dow and environmental groups.

"Anyone claiming that fields where Tebuthiuron was used would be steralized
forever is, well, just not telling the truth," he says. "We've tried it, in
circumstances that we believe are representative of the real-world
situation, and we found that, in most cases, we were able to replant on the
same land within six months of the application."

One industry observer who works closely with Tebuthiuron says there are a
number of conditions present in Colombia that could lead to widespread
deforestation if the herbicide is wrongly or accidentally applied.

"What if a plane is loaded with the stuff and it crashes or it takes a hit
from the guerrillas? If you have to dump a load, you could create a desert,"
he says. "This stuff is extremely water soluble. It moves with water. If it
comes in contact with the root system of a tree, that tree is gone."

Helling describes the prospect of a crash or a guerrilla shootdown as a
"hypothetical scenario" with "a very low probability" of actually happening.
But an accidental release over a forest could cause "some temporary
defoliation," he says.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund have
objected even to the limited testing of Tebuthiuron in Colombia, arguing
that the rainy weather, steep mountain slopes and heavily wooded areas make
it too risky.

But Colombia's deputy environment minister Carlos Fonseca, and Helling say
deforestation and pollution caused by drug traffickers dwarfs the
environmental problems posed by herbicides used in eradication.

Massive amounts of chemical fertilizers are used in drug cultivation, they
say, and rivers and streams near jungle laboratories are routinely polluted
with chemicals used to process cocaine.

"The amount of deforestation caused by coca growing is increasing all the
time," Helling says.

"That's the real issue."