Environmental authorities rule out use of Fusarium oxysporum fungus in Andean Community countries

Lima, Sept. 7, 2000. The Andean Committee of Environmental Authorities (CAAAM) stated its "rejection of the use of the ‘Fusarium oxysporum’ fungus as a means of eradicating illegal crops in the Member Countries of the Andean Community."

This decision was revealed in a declaration made last night at the conclusion of the two-day meeting at CAN General Secretariat headquarters, in which environmental authorities from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela took part.

The CAAAM Declaration expressed its "solidarity with the decision taken by the Government of Colombia, in particular by its Environment Ministry, not to make any tests using the Fusarium oxyusporum fungus."

It also stated "its support for the decision made by the Environment Ministry of Ecuador not to allow use of the Fusarium oxysporum or any other biological agent in its territory."

The Committee gave its backing to "initiatives for seeking joint solutions to the problem of environmental protection and to national initiatives geared toward this end, such as Supreme Decree No. 004/2000-AG enacted by the Peruvian Government to prohibit the use of biological agents on coca plantations."

The CAAAM was created within the framework of the Andean Community by Decision 435, signed on June 11, 1998, for the purpose of advising and supporting the CAN General Secretariat on Community environmental policy issues.

This past July 20, Ecuador’s Environment Ministry issued a press release indicating that the government of that country "has not permitted, nor will it permit, the use of the Fusarium oxysporum fungus or any other biological agent because of the serious risks it poses for the environment and human health."

The Ministry of the Environment of Colombia, for its part, on July 18 issued a statement to the effect that it, as well as the Colombian Government, "did not accept the proposal put forward by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to conduct tests using the Fusarium oxysporum because it considered that any agent foreign to the native ecosystems of our country could pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health."

That Ministry issued the explanation in response to the release of information "about the possible use of the Fusarium oxysporum fungus as a tool for the eradication of illegal crops in the country."