Reprinted from the South China Morning Post Article "Fears give reprieve for opium fields" by William Barnes.

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A fungus developed to wipe out the Golden Triangle's opium fields is unlikely to be used following research which shows it could affect other crops.
The finding has also lessened a unique chance to test the Burmese military regime's good faith over drugs.

Fears that the hi-tech fungus being developed with US and British money could run amok to create an ecological disaster have spread to the United Nations, a UK television programme aired on Monday night revealed.

Confidential documents from the UN show its experts are worried that once spread on poppy fields in Burma and Afghanistan, the fungus - which could be ready in a couple of years - might be difficult to contain. There are also worries that the fungus might mutate in forms that could be used by terrorists, it was reported on Panorama.

The prospect of crippling the world's greatest sources of heroin with something that looks like fur on old bread is tantalising. Sceptics do not believe the military regime's claims that it will wipe out all poppy fields within a decade. Burma, with a population of about 45 million, has a bloated military of some 400,000 personnel in uniform.

Even optimists admit the UN drug-control programme's poppy crop substitution projects in Shan State - heartland of the Golden Triangle - can be easily circumvented.

"Frankly, without a magic bullet, I don't see anything dramatic happening in the Shan State for many years. It's too lucrative for too many people," said a foreign drugs officer in Bangkok. "Now I am beginning to wonder whether anyone will have the courage to try the fungus," he said.

Such a move would be a unique test of the Burmese Government's sincerity about eradicating an industry that has tripled in a decade.

The regime claims that a rugged terrain and battle-hardened drug armies are too prickly to tackle head on. It vigorously denies allegations that drug money helps prop up the economy and lines the pockets of top generals, though it admits to "low-level" drug corruption.

The fungus is being developed by former Soviet germ warfare experts and others at a research institute in Uzbekistan. The US and British governments have contributed substantially to the search for a virulent form of the mould, Pleospora papaveracea, which, in its mild, natural form, is no more than an irritant to opium farmers.

The Uzbekistan strain causes poppies to wither and die and - unlike chemical plant killers - spreads naturally by wind.

Reports from the research centre talk of "100 per cent success" in trials. It is described as "aggressive, infectious, self-propagating and deadly". Mixed with talc and silica gel, it can be dropped by plane.

UK plant pathologist Paul Rogers told the TV researchers that the fungus "could easily become a poisoned chalice". He urged "great caution". But British microbiologist Mike Greaves, who is overseeing the project for the UN, said: "I love it. It's actually working".

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