Boliviana negra

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Also known as supercoca or la millionaria, Boliviana Negra is a relatively new form of coca that is resistant to herbicide Roundup, or the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate. The coca plant is the precursor to the addictive stimulant cocaine, one of the most widely consumed illegal drugs in the world and the source of large amounts of money to various criminal organizations. Since Roundup is a key ingredient in the multibillion-dollar aerial coca eradication campaign undertaken by the government of Colombia with US financial and military backing known as Plan Colombia, increasing popularity of Boliviana negra amongst growers could have serious repurcussions for the War on Drugs.

The herbicide resistance of this strain has at least two possible explanations: that a “peer-to-peer” network of coca farmers used selective breeding to enhance this trait through tireless effort, or the plant was genetically modified in a laboratory. In 1996, a patented Roundup Ready or glyphosate-resistant soybean was marketed by Monsanto, suggesting that it would be possible to genetically modify coca in an analogous manner. Spraying Boliviana negra with glyphosate would serve to strengthen its growth by eliminating the non-resistant weeds surrounding it. Joshua Davis, in the Wired article cited below, found no evidence of CP4, a protein produced by the Roundup Ready soybean, suggesting Bolivana negra was not created in a laboratory but by selective breeding in the fields.

A fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, has been suggested as a possible successor to glyphosate, although this itself poses hazards to humans and other plant species.