SOUDER - TEST FUNGUS TO HELP KILL DRUG PLANTS

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder is pressing for the federal government to test
a plant-killing fungus for possible use in destroying the plants used
to make cocaine and heroin.

Souder, R-Ind., said that after testing Fusarium oxysporum, the
government could use it to destroy drug fields in Colombia and
Afghanistan, The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported.

However, the nation's drug czar, John Walters, and his staff said
it's possible that the fungus would not only destroy coca plants and
poppies -- which are made into cocaine and heroin -- but also ruin
the soil for other crops.

Fusarium is a naturally occurring fungus that can cause many plant
diseases, and each strain of the fungus is thought to attack only one
kind of plant. But skeptics say it's unclear whether a fungus that
kills coca plants would spread to other plants or even harm humans.

"It's an organism that could mutate into another organism that kills
everything," said Thomas Riley, spokesman for Walters' office.

But Souder said the government should examine using the fungus in the
war on drugs.

"We're frustrated and amazed at the resistance to looking at
alternative methods" of eradicating drug-producing plants, Souder said.