Despite the alarm for the African highlands and eastern Europe, perhaps the greatest danger lies back in the Andes. There is a real risk that the fungus could eat away the genetic resources we will need to defeat it. If potato breeders were unduly complacent about late potato blight in the sixties and seventies, they were properly alarmed by the mid-eighties. In a frantic effort to outbreed the fast-mutating fungus, CIP released more than 250 new potato clones to 27 countries around the world. Among the hardest hit locations are Rubengeri in Rwanda and Rio Negro in Colombia.
Scientists recognize, however, that nothing offers farmers or consumers true security.
At least in part, the present threat is the product of over-enthusiastic potato evangelism, backstopped by aggressive company marketing, foolish breeding strategies, and reliance on a single commercial fungicide. It had proven effective against the original strain, but Metalaxyl was impotent in the face of later forms of the Type A1 fungus as well as Type A2 strains. Some international researchers maintain that Metalaxyl, sold under the trade names Rindomil, Apron, Subdue and Acylon, accidentally but inevitably, created the more aggressive disease by forcing the fungus to mutate around the chemical for its own survival. The worry now is that fear of the new strains will push governments to accept still more potent chemicals contributing to a cycle of toxics and disease that will only threaten humanity further. There are also grounds for questioning the breeding strategies of both public and private institutions.