Шаловливые ручки

[borislvin]

Благодаря юзеру stumari случайно узнал о поразительной истории. Особенно поразительной в свете событий последних полутора лет. Описана история, наверно, много где (а может быть, и не очень много где), я же узнал о ней из двух статей, помещенных на сайте весьма левого учреждения под названием Transnational Institue.

Судя по всему, история эта кончилась ничем. И, наверно, к счастью.

Нельзя исключать, что в рассказах об этой истории что-то не договаривается, упускается, искажается, преувеличивается. Может быть, все было иначе. А может быть, и не очень сильно иначе.

Первая статья написана в 1998 году (архивированная версия, доступная версия). В ней, в частности, написано:

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In February 1998, the UNDCP signed a US$ 650.000 contract with the "Institute of Genetics and Plants Experimental Biology" of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan for a 3.5 year research programme to develop a "reliable biological control agent" for opium poppy (UNDCP Project Nr AD/RER/98/C37). Initially, the donors to the project insisted on anonymity, indicating the controversial nature of the programme.

In March 1998 the "Christian Science Monitor" first reported on the project (See: At Heroin's Source Hope Rises For a Way to Cut Opium Crops, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 March 1998). The news did not spark of any controversy, until "The Sunday Times" disclosed that "Britain is engaged in a secret attempt to crush the worldwide heroin trade with biological warfare" in June 1998. (See: Britain Funds Biological War Against Heroin, The Sunday Times, 28 June 1998).

The Times reporter described the "Institute of Genetics" as a former Soviet Union centre for "germ warfare research". Since Uzbekistan's independence the Institute no longer takes their orders from Moscow, but has practically no financial resources and poor scientific equipment. Scientist and UN staff have been forbidden to discuss the project by UNDCPs headquarters in Vienna.

The costs of the programme are shared by the British and the United States Government, according to The Sunday Times. Intelligence services of both countries are involved from the planning stage and "may have a role in the deployment of the fungus". The UK Foreign Office confirmed that Britain is funding the research.

Subsequently, the UNDCP issued an angry press release. While acknowledging support for the research project, the UNDCP stated that they were not involved in developing any "biological weapon" nor that they conducted any research on "biological warfare": "These terms are totally inappropriate and gravely distort the nature of the project". The UN agency called the statements that intelligence agents and germ warfare experts are involved in the project "baseless".

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В другой статье 2005 года эта же история описывается так:

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Under the directorship of Arlacchi, UNDCP developed in 1997/98 its widely criticized Strategy for Coca and Opium Poppy Elimination (SCOPE), which aims to completely eradicate the illicit cultivation of coca and opium poppy by the year 2008. Arlacchi failed to have the plan endorsed at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in June 1998, but many elements of the integral strategy continue to be developed. In paragraph 75 the SCOPE plan notes: "UNDCP also intends to test, through an applied research programme in Uzbekistan, a biological control agent based on the plant pathogenic fungus Dendryphion papaveraceae. The agent is claimed to have been found in other central Asian States. An important step will be to confirm its natural occurrence throughout the region (in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), which would contribute to ascertaining whether it is environmentally safe for use in poppy-growing areas, especially in central Asia."

A UNDCP-sponsored open field test project indeed began in 1998 in Uzbekistan testing the fungus for its effectiveness against opium-poppy. “We've been looking for something like this for years and years” said Cherif Kouidri, head of UNDCP laboratory in Vienna, “It would hearten all of us if we were to find that it was indigenous to Afghanistan,” which would open the door to large-scale application in the world's main opium producing country. This project is funded primarily by the United Kingdom and experts of the Ascot based CABI Biosciences, formerly known as the International Institute of Biological Control, and the Bristol-based IACR-Long Ashton Research Station have been contracted as consultants.

Critical media reports couching the Uzbekistan project as ‘biological warfare,' triggered an angry press release from UNDCP. “The UNDCP is supporting a research and development programme on an environmentally safe plant pathogenic fungus (Pleospora papaveracea). The research is being carried out by the Institute of Genetics in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with financial support from the UNDCP, through donor funding. Neither the Institute of Genetics in Tashkent nor the UNDCP are involved in developing any "biological weapon" nor are they conducting any research on "biological warfare". These terms are totally inappropriate and gravely distort the nature of the project which, as above mentioned, aims at developing an environmentally safe and reliable biological control agent for opium poppies.”

The Expert Group, which originated as simply a platform for the exchange of technical information, prepared the terrain for UNDCP to become directly involved as the executing agency for further development, testing and the possible full scale application of agents for forced eradication. The group's questionable mandate and mission statement in terms of ‘environmental safety', provided UNDCP with the necessary arguments to legitimize this step.

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Reacting to a proposal to start a similar project aimed at destroying cannabis cultivation in Florida, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, David Struhs wrote in a April 6, 1999 letter: “Fusarium species are capable of evolving rapidly... Mutagenicity is by far the most disturbing factor in attempting to use a Fusarium species as a bioherbicide. It is difficult, if not impossible, to control the spread of Fusarium species. The mutated fungi can cause disease in a large number of crops, including tomatoes, peppers, flowers, corn and vines, and are normally considered a threat to farmers as a pest, rather than as a pesticide. Fusarium species are more active in warm soils and can stay resident in the soil for years. Their longevity and enhanced activity under Florida conditions are of concern, as this could lead to an increased risk of mutagenicity.”

Another concern is the variety of dangerous toxins the Fusarium fungus is proven able to produce. And a specific worry relates to indications that the researchers at the USDA laboratory have “developed a transformation system in Fusarium oxysporum to allow alteration of the gene expression” of the fungus and have proposed “the development of strains with enhanced pathogenicity using molecular genetic manipulations involving fungal proteins.”

The Expert Group also noted that “modern technology offered many opportunities for the improvement of biological control efficacy in fungal pathogens. In addition to selection procedures to isolate strains of high virulance, simple mutations and adaptations as well as protoplast fusion techniques offered significant opportunities.” As examples they mention the genetic engineering of strains that would make it active only in combination with another compound which could be fumigated separately, or a pure manipulation that would make the strain unfit for over-wintering. The Expert Group worried about existing regulations against modified organisms: “Continued intensive dialogue with regulatory agencies was necessary to avoid undue restraints against the release of biological control agents in the field.”

Should any of these unknown variables and concerns cause serious damage, the liability clause of the draft project document states: “The Government (of Colombia) will be responsible for dealing with any claims which may be brought by third parties against the United Nations, including UNDCP, against its personnel or against other parties performing services on behalf of the United Nations, including UNDCP, under this Project.” Meanwhile “The US Government, in the form of the US Department of Agriculture own all Intellectual Property Rights in respect of Isolate EN-4 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. erythroxyli"

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