BBC-GM cocaine grown in Colombia

[LiviaOlivia]

BBC NEWS
GM cocaine grown in Colombia
12-08-04

Some Colombian drug growers are using genetically modified coca "trees" to boost cocaine production dramatically, government officials say. Anti-drug operatives say they found new strains with yields eight times higher than normal coca plants.

Higher yields could help explain why cocaine prices have stayed low despite US and Colombian air attacks on farms. Colombian scientists and US officials expressed doubts, claiming extra growth could be achieved using fertiliser.

<snip>

"In their search for greater profits, drug-traffickers appear to have entered the world of genetically modified crops," the dossier said.
Among the coca plants judged to have been genetically enhanced is one variety which grows up to 2.7m (9ft) tall - double the usual size.

Foreign agronomists have helped the coca growers to develop the new strain of plant, which is resistant to many commonly used herbicides and can yield as much as four times the regular concentration of cocaine, the Financial Times said.

<snip>

Under Plan Colombia the country has become the world's third largest recipient of US military aid.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4076525.stm

[WMliberal]

1. those mean, bad plants

they aren't owned by Bristol-Meyers-Squibb, Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, or Upjohn. They must be destroyed.

[Melodybe]

2. Shrub has to get his supply from somewhere.

I love that we are sending so much "aid" to the world's largest cocaine farmers, meanwhile, we can't properly arm our troops and more and more Americans are homeless every day.

[Wonk]

4. Are you sure about that?

That they aren't owned/designed/controlled by IG Farben Monsanto, Bristol-Meyers-Squibb, Eli Lilly, etc?

http://www.guerrillanews.com/videos/video.php?id=1

[Melodybe]

5. Wow that was awesome, nice to see someone covering Iran Contra

Thanks for posting, I feel more informed, and that is always a good thing.

[benburch]

3. I've often wondered why there is no domestic coca crop

Is there nowhere in the USA where the correct conditions can be found to grow coca? Seems to me it could be hidden in a national forest just as easily as weed is now.

[bullimiami]

6. Did monsanto engineer them?

Are they 'roundup ready'.

Do they have to buy the seed stock for next year from monsanto? No banking of seeds?

They need roundup ready so when monsanto sprays the coca plants live while the weeds and peasants die.

[NickB79]

8. Too late, Mother Nature got the drop on us

There already is a naturally-occurring cocoa plant that is Roundup-Ready, and Monsanto had nothing to do with it's creation.

[NickB79]

7. What a sensationalist load of bull

I like how they report nothing about any samples being sequenced in a lab to determine if they have any DNA sequences unique to GM crops, include this statement:

"But a Colombian toxicologist, Camilo Uribe, told Reuters news agency there was no evidence that the plants had been genetically modified."

Yet the title is still "GM cocoa plants grown in Columbia". I thought Fox had the monopoly on this kind of pull-crap-outta-your-ass journalism.

Here's another story posted on Wired.com about rumors of a genetically engineered, Roundup-resistant cocoa plant growing in S. America: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/columbia.html?tw=wn_tophead_6. It too was rumored to be the work of some evil multinational corporation like Monsanto, or a rogue biotech scientist. Read through it and find out what they say the source of the plant actually was (hint, Darwin would be pleased in an odd way).