>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Attention: Assignment Editor > > >Contact: Brad Lawton; Andrew McInerney (212) 633-6646 > > >U.S. BIOWARFARE AGAINST THE COLOMBIAN PEOPLE > > > > >A portion of the 1.3 billion dollars allotted to the Colombian Military > in the recent US �Plan Colombia� package is set aside to >facilitate the large scale distribution of a toxic fungus (Fusarium >oxsporum, EN-4 strain) over coca-producing regions. �The U.S. >plans to spread this toxic fungus are only part of the Plan >Colombia, 90% of which is military aid and includes 18 >Blackhawk and 42 Huey II helicopters. The US had to enact >Plan Colombia, heightening the war against the impoverished >Colombian people, in order to maintain its imperialist domination >of the region. The spraying of the Fusarium fungus as a Biological >Warfare agent is just another example of US escalation of the >Colombian civil war,� stated Andy McInerney, a Colombia >expert at the International Action Center. > > >The US Government�s imperial alibi for use of the toxic fungus is the > �War on Drugs,� but numerous Colombian scientists are still >opposed to the plan. Eduardo Posada, head of the Colombian >Center For International Physics, wrote a letter of opposition to the > Colombian Minister of the Environment stating that, �The mortality > rate for people infected by Fusarium is 76 percent.� Posada lists >the scientific literature indicating that fusarium toxins are �highly >toxic� to animals and humans. > > >The application of the fungus in Colombia will explode the internal >refugee problem. People fleeing from the areas rendered unlivable > by the EN-4 application will certainly be malnourished and potential > victims for infection by the fungus, which has been documented in > medical literature to kill patients with suppressed immune >systems. Jeremy Bigwood, an ethnobotanist, stated at the 13th >International Conference on Drug Policy Reform that, �To then >apply a myoherbicide from the air that has been associated with a >76% kill rate in hospitalized human patients is tantamount to >biological warfare.� > > >The US government and Dr. David Sands, who developed the EN- > 4 strain as a mycoherbicide, or fungal plant-killer, while working >for the Department of Agriculture, continue to maintain that the >fungus is not harmful to humans, animals, or plants, other than the >intended target. Sands however can hardly be counted as >nonbiased as vice president of Ag/Bio Con Inc., the corporation >that owns the EN-4 strain and the plans for the deployment >apparatus. > > >The US-directed coca eradication crusade of the past decade has > failed to stop coca growing, but has destroyed farms and sickened > peasants. Despite the massive effort of the Colombian National >Police to spray coca fields from the air with glyphosate (Roundup as > marketed by Monsanto), tebuthiuron (Spike 20 as marketed by > Dow Agro) and other powerful chemical herbicides, coca >production in Colombia has expanded. There have been reports >that Roundup has sickened children and killed food crops, but the >effects of Roundup do not compare to the threat posed by the toxic > fungus. Even Luis Parra, a herbicide expert monitoring the >chemical spraying to eradicate coca, is opposed to the use of >Fusarium. He says, �It is very different to apply a chemical >herbicide (such as Roundup) that has known predictable and >undeniable risk, than to apply a microbe (such as a mycoherbicide) > where the risks are unknown.� > > >The problem of drug trafficking was recently addressed at a June >29-30th Conference of Illicit Drug Crops and Environment, held as > part of talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of >Colombia- People�s Army (FARC-EP) and the Colombian >Government. Representatives of 21 nations heard testimony of >peasants from coca-producing regions about the devastating >effects of fumigation on their lives. The FARC presented the >government with a five year test plan to stop coca growing >completely in one region of Colombia through government aid that > would allow farmers to plant alternative crops. The government >rejected the plan completely. The U.S. refused even to attend the > conference. �The Solution is not fumigation. Money is needed >for social investment in order to begin plans to replace cocca, >poppy and marijuana with healthy products�, said Raul Reyes, a >spokesman for the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of >Colombia). > > >�We are organizing against US intervention in Colombia and in >support of the Colombian people�s struggle for liberation,� >explained Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action >Center and leading activist against US use of depleted uranium >weapons. > > ><paraindent><param>out</param>Stop U.S. intervention in Colombia!</paraindent> > > > > >U.S. Hands off the Liberation Movements! > > >--30-- > > >International Action Center >39 West 14th Street, Room 206 >New York, NY 10011 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: www.iacenter.org >CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org >phone: 212 633-6646 >fax: 212 633-2889 > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
