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Book Review *Biological Control Solutions to Terror Buzzword, by Walton Cook - Public Policy Press, Boalsburg PA 16827,
USA Until September 11, the daily terror of existence was the possibility of being mugged or burglarized by an unpredictable drug-addled individual who has no care for human life while seeking the wherewithal to support the addiction. Few realize the relationship between the drug problem and the international terror groups that perpetrated the mass destruction in the US and terror elsewhere. Few realize that a small can of heroin will pay for a terrorist to live for a year and for pilot training. The recent press reports of the Hizbolla "protecting" the hashish growers in Lebanon, the old IRA running drugs for revenue, and the dependence of bin-Laden and the Taliban on poppy growth in Afghanistan hardly seem related to the world's major problem. It is the "protection" of the growers that supplies the capital for international terror, and having the clandestine network ready-made for trafficking provides the value added for continuing terror operations. Illicit drugs have replaced oil as the main source of income for international terror. This is heavily described in this recent book, albeit with an emphasis on the "Shining Path" of Peru and other South American terror groups, but also the golden triangle of Asia and other cash cows of terrorists are covered. If one were to delete the novelistic window trimmings in this book, one has an excellent description of the problems, and the solutions of using aerial applications of biological control agents on the narcotic plants. It isn't every day that someone writes a "biothriller" classified elsewhere by the publisher as a "Political thriller/Biotechnology" about your own area of biotechnological research, where you and your colleagues have been plodding to slowly make the advances that will allow the control of weeds, insect pests and fungal pathogens that affect our legitimate crops. The "biothriller" is rather different from bioscience fiction, as unlike Andromeda Strain and others of the hysteria type, it tries to stick to doable biotechnology and the thriller part has to do with the applications. The story line is about a plant pathologist working for CIP in Peru on potato diseases, and on the side on diseases of coca. He decides to go public on developing the organisms for biocontrol of coca after his wife is murdered by narco-maniacs. The scientific parts of interest here are the very effective treatment of enhanced biocontrol of the weeds, the innate selectivity of such agents so that they are specific to the drug plants while not affecting legitimate crops. The various interactions with public officials in trying to get support for the project, and the philosophies of acceptance of modern biotechnology in the discussions and debates among the protagonists, whether government officials, scientists or the disseminators of disinformation in the press to discredit biotechnology have much to teach in how to get scientific information to uninitiated officials.. The book follows a media flurry about the US government's seeming decision about a year ago not to deploy the Fusarium oxysporum that they had been testing for control of coca, about which the supported researchers had published articles in peer-reviewed journals. When articles appear about any type of previously secret project, it is a sign that there had been an interesting concept that did not work. This feeling was especially cogent considering the dangers to life and limb to be associated with any form of an anti-narco activity. Still, at least one of the researchers involved has been publicly advocating using the technology. The author shows that one can write a thriller without severely distorting basic science, somewhat like chapter 1 in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" describing rather accurately the basics of cloning more than half a century before it was actually performed in animals, and decades before substantiated in plants. Indeed, at some points the various protagonists rant about the disservice to the cause of innovative science caused by Andromeda Strain, the opposite genre of science fiction. It is of credit to science that the possibility of enhancing virulence of biocontrol agents, alluded to by the author is well documented (for other targets) in the various chapters of "Enhancing biocontrol agents and handling risks" (M. Vurro et al., eds. IOS Press, Amsterdam 2001). Biological or chemical warfare implies human targets, human casualties, using organisms or chemicals that directly affect humans, which is very different from chemical or biological control of plants. Herbicides were used to deprive cover and food supply in Vietnam, which is not chemical warfare, as the effects of the herbicide were indirect (although in that case the herbicide was contaminated with unacceptable levels of dioxins). Biological control of plants poisonous to humanity (coca, poppies, or even tobacco) indirectly deprives farmers, terrorists and traffickers of ill-gained income, but does not affect the food supply and is thus not biological warfare. In the long run it returns land to productive agriculture or forestry. The "thriller" parts include the requisite sex scenes, interplay among espionage agents within and among countries, the geo-biodiversity of narco producers, traffickers, the purported intellectual and physical tricks of their trades, the chase scenes, and the paramilitary operations of the project. Even this has take home for science: A classic case is when the Mafia capo del capo explains why it is important to get the disinformation about biotechnology published before the facts get out: "The winner's edge goes to whoever shapes the public perception first. Establish him as a rogue scientist, willing to break all the principles of civilized society." The explanations about how enhanced biocontrol works, problems in host specificity and delivery systems are all well discussed. The book might well be a primer about how a scientist should prepare for and present findings to governmental evaluation panels, and how to convince. Even when a mafia mole intent on disruption is not part of a committee, characters not too different, having hidden agendas can be part of any such evaluation group. Scientifically, narcotic plants should be easier to deal with than agricultural weeds. Biocontrol agents, even augmented transgenically, are best at debilitating a target plant, severely limiting its growth. Surely an 80% reduction of leaf area would make coca, poppy, or marijuana uneconomical, whereas that would be an unacceptably low effect on a weed in a field crop. There is ample evidence from various weeds that the author's fictional approach of enhancing the level of biocontrol by using a rust fungus and another fungus that enters through the rust pustules on the leaf surface. Likewise, the use of solid chopped grain to provide a continual substrate for a while, as well as insect vectors "that do not brush their teeth" for inoculation, are all feasible. The many discussions on the short and long-term effects and implications of biocontrol, as well as the ethical issues in decision making are interestingly covered. Science cannot substantiate the book's claim that Fusarium spp. do not mutate their host specificity. Most researchers feel that this unprovable assertion is correct, but the best a scientist can state is that "it is so rare that, try as we may to get such mutations, it has not been seen". One can only hope that last year's US government decisions against aerial deployment of biocontrol agents for control of narcotic species will be reversed for the long-term benefit of their constituency and mankind. It is an essential part of any war that the enemy be deprived of the resources to make war. The duality of the present war is that it also unleashes the internal terror of drug-related crime. Clearly biocontrol of narcotic plants is a major weapon in the war on this twin terror. There should be considerable peaceful fallout from such type efforts that can later be deployed towards agricultural and human pest species. Jonathan Gressel
* Used with permission by the International Bioherbicide Group—IBG News (Volume 10, Number 2, December, 2001).
Comments?  ©2001-2008 Public Policy Press
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