Time to buy some Scott’s stock!

Fertilizer May Be Root of Big Colombia Coca Plants

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Giant coca plants said to resist herbicides and yield eight times more cocaine may be due to extra fertilizer, not a drug cartel's genetic modification program, a scientist said on Tuesday.

A Colombian police intelligence dossier quoted in the Financial Times said smugglers apparently received help from foreign scientists to develop a herbicide-resistant tree that yields eight times more cocaine than normal shrubs.

But a toxicologist who studied the plants for the police said he knew of no evidence that showed whether the plants were genetically modified or merely grew big because they received an unusually large amount of fertilizer.

"Up to now there is no scientific evidence, at least in our country, which shows this is the consequence of genetic manipulation," said toxicologist Camilo Uribe.

Whew, that’s a relief! More at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=3&u=/nm/20041207/od_nm/cocaine_dc