The Washington Times 2003

Fusarium
Mycotoxins:

This site is supported by a grant from Drug Policy Reform Fund of the TIDES Foundation.

The Washington Times
2003-07-08
Feature: Fungus new weapon against opium

By Marina Kozlova. UPI Science News

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, -- The worldwide commerce of opium farming soon could face a major challenge from a lethal but naturally occurring fungus discovered and being tested by Uzbek scientists.

The fungus, called Pleospora papaveracea, has been tested against different poppy varieties, as well as more than 200 different species of plants, including agricultural crops and wild plants in the Central Asian region. Although research and development studies were undertaken in Uzbekistan, field trials also were conducted in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Based on those tests, the principal international crime-fighting agency of the United Nations has confirmed the potential use of P. papaveracea as an environmentally safe, reliable biological control agent against the opium poppy.

Howard Stead, chief of the scientific section for the U.N. International Drug Control Program, told United Press International the fungus has caused disease in all of the tested poppy varieties, but has infected none of the other tested crops and plants.

"It is naturally occurring," Stead said of P. papaveracea. "It has not been artificially created, nor has it been modified in any way by genetic engineering."

It was discovered in diseased poppies growing in the Central Asian region, he added.

Notwithstanding that "studies to date have provided no evidence that the fungus may cause environmental damage," Stead said a possible environmental impact remains a serious concern. He recommended additional studies before any consideration is given to widespread application of the agent.

A fungus is an organism that lives by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which it grows. Fungi include mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts and yeasts.

Shavkat Saidmurodov, a senior inspector of Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency, told UPI the fungus is "very effective" in mountainous climate conditions -- where the poppies frequently are grown -- at retarding the early stage of growth and flowering of poppies.

When the plant's pods reach their ripening stage, however, the fungus is merely "effective," he said.

Saidmurodov, who tested the fungus in Tajikistan, said P. papaveracea is harmless to human beings, animals and other plants. The fungus does not pollute soil and water, he added.

Using P. papaveracea could be much less harmful than other carcinogenic and chemical methods currently employed, Saidmurodov said.

Stead characterized the work by Uzbek scientists at the Institute of Genetics and Experimental Biology as "sound, in the light of review of the scientific results obtained and overview of the project by an independent international consultant."

However, he continued, much work still is required to prepare for large-scale production and application of the fungus. The research so far has consisted of hand-spraying opium poppy plants. The fungus has not yet been used to eradicate any actual illicit crops.

"We are aware of some possibilities that farmers could attempt to protect against the use of a biological control agent," he said and added, "This may be expensive." There would be no parameters of when best to apply the fungicide, and much background work would have to be done to optimize conditions.

"At the other extreme, it has also been suggested that genetic modification could be used to protect opium poppies," Stead added. "Whatever, serious research would have to be undertaken to develop a 'protected' opium poppy."

Regarding the economic implications, he said: "I understand that the cost of large-scale production and application of a biological control agent such as P. papaveracea would be about the same as for a chemical herbicide."

The general economic impact is less clear, Stead said. It could be argued that if illicit cultivation of opium poppy crops was prevented in Afghanistan, for example, that would mean the loss of revenue on some 3,400 tons of opium.

The U.N. has no plans to use the fungus itself, or to conduct research in this area. It will make the results of the Uzbek project available, allowing governments to consider if, and how, the deployment of P. papaveracea should be pursued, Stead said.

Antonella Deledda, the U.N. anti-drug representative in Central Asia, told UPI the production of opium in Afghanistan might reach 4,000 tons in 2003, representing 76 percent of the world's total. Heroin, a narcotic produced from opium, is the one provoking most deaths, she added.

"Treatment data consistently shows that illicit heroin use has the most severe health consequences for drug abusers," according to the U.N.'s 2003 report, "Global Illicit Drug Trends."

"In 2000-2001 ... about 15 million people abused opium and heroin in the world," the report stated. "The main problem drugs in the world, as reflected in demand for treatment, remained the opiates or drugs containing opium or its derivatives."

Opiate abuse deeply affects all of the countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as a number of Asian nations, Deledda said. Opium production is a problem of "development and security," she said.

Deledda declined to discuss the potential use of P. papaveracea. She urged the international community to provide the aid it has promised to Afghanistan and help the central government ensure security throughout the country's territory.

"The best way (to fight heroine) is to prevent the sowing (opium poppies)," Deledda added.