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PHOTOSBYDAVIDZALUBOWSKI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Frank Conrad, head of pot-testing lab Colorado Green Lab, charts potency levels of marijuana. ByKristenWyatt The Associated Press DENVER Microscopicbugs and mildew can destroy a marijuana operation faster than any police raid. And because the crop has been illegal for so long, neither growers nor scientists have any reliable research to help fight the infestations. As legal marijuana moves from basements and back- woods to warehouses and commercial fields, the mold and spider mites that once ruined only a few plants at a time can now quickly create a multimillion-dollar crisis for growers. Some are turn- ing to industrial-strength chemicals, raising concerns about safety. Pesticides and herbi- cides are regulated by the federal government, which still regards almost all mar- ijuana as an illicit crop, so there's no roadmap to help pot farmers. Chemists and horticulturalists can't of- fer much assistance ei- ther. They sometimes dis- agree about how to com- bat the problem, largely because the plant is used in many different ways — smoked, eaten and some- times rubbed on the skin. "We have an industry that's been illegal for so many years that there's no research. There's no guide- lines. There's nothing," said Frank Conrad, lab director for Colorado Green Lab, a pot-testing lab in Denver. In states that regulate marijuana, officials are just starting to draft rules gov- erning safe levels of chemi- cals. So far, there have been no reports of any human illness traced to chemicals used on marijuana, but worries persist. The city of Denver this spring quarantined tens of thousands of marijuana plants at 11 growing facil- ities after health inspec- tors suspected use of unau- thorized pesticides. Some of the plants were later re- leased after tests revealed the pot was safe, but two producers voluntarily de- stroyed their plants. Eight businesses have still at least some plants in quarantine. In Oregon, a June inves- tigation by The Oregonian newspaper found pesticides in excess of legal limits on products ranging from mar- ijuana buds to concentrated marijuana oils. Other pesti- cides detected on the mar- ijuana are not regulated by Oregon's marijuana rules, meaning that products con- taining those chemicals still can be sold there. The U.S. Environmen- tal Protection Agency, which decides which pesti- cides can be used on which crops, just last month told Colorado and Washington authorities that they could apply to have some canna- bis-related chemicals ap- proved through what's called a "special local need registration." But that pro- cess could take years. PROBLEM FOR GROWERS New marijuana industry wrestles with pesticides and safety concerns Frank Conrad and Cindy Blair pose for photos at their lab in Denver. By Marilynn Marchione The Associated Press An 18-year-old French teen born with the AIDS virus has had her infection under control and nearly undetectable despite stop- ping treatment 12 years ago — an unprecedented remission, doctors are re- porting. The teen might have some form of natural re- sistance to HIV that hasn't yet been discovered. But her case revives hope that early, aggressive treatment can limit how strongly the virus takes hold, and per- haps in rare cases, let peo- ple control it without life- long drugs. A few years ago, doc- tors reported a similar case: a Mississippi girl who kept HIV in check for 27 months without treat- ment. But then her virus rebounded, dashing hopes that early treatment might have cured her. At least a dozen adults have had remissions for a median of 10 years after stopping HIV medicines, but the new French case is said to be the first long- lasting one that started in childhood. The case was described Monday at an Interna- tional AIDS Society con- ference in Vancouver, Brit- ish Columbia, by Dr. Asier Saez-Cirion of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The teen lives in the Paris area and her identity was not re- vealed. "This is an exciting story," but it is unknown if the remission will last, said Francoise Barre- Sinoussi, a scientist at the Pasteur Institute and a co- discoverer of HIV. "This case is clearly ad- ditional evidence of the powerful benefit of start- ing treatment as soon as possible," she said. Most HIV-infected moms in the U.S. get AIDS medicines during preg- nancy, which greatly cuts the chances they will pass the virus to their babies. The French teen's mother did not have her HIV un- der control in pregnancy, and doctors think her daughter was infected be- fore or during birth. Doctors gave the baby an HIV drug — zidovu- dine, or AZT — for six weeks, which was the stan- dard of care at that time. Tests then showed she still had high levels of HIV in her blood, so she was given a more powerful four-drug combination. She stayed on treatment until she was nearly 6, then doctors lost contact with her. When she came back a year later, her mother said she had stopped giving the girl HIV drugs. Yet doctors could not find HIV in her blood so they decided not to resume treatment. Except for one brief rise when she was 11 that re- solved on its own, her vi- rus has remained below a detection threshold ever since, although doctors can still find some at extremely low levels when they look with very sensitive tests. "This girl is in remis- sion of infection but she is infected" and not cured, Saez-Cirion said. She doesn't have any of the gene variants or other biomark- ers that are known to give natural control or protec- tion from HIV infection, and she was not able to sup- press the virus on her own before getting the powerful drug combo. Those things suggest that early treat- ment is responsible for the remission, he said. Sharon Lewin, an AIDS scientist at the University of Melbourne in Austra- lia, said "it's always hard to know, when you have a single case report, is there something about this par- ticular individual that's unique? What's in the back of people's minds is, would this have happened any- way," independent of her treatment, she said. Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the Uni- versity of California, San Francisco, agreed, but said the case "adds to the grow- ing story that we should be treating everybody re- ally early." AIDS SOCIETY CONFERENCE Doctors say teen's HIV in check for 12 years without drugs By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON To sleep, perchance to... ward off Al- zheimer's? New research suggests poor sleep may increase people's risk of Al- zheimer's disease, by spur- ring a brain-clogging gunk that in turn further inter- rupts shut-eye. Disrupted sleep may be one of the missing pieces in explaining how a hallmark of Alzheimer's, a sticky pro- tein called beta-amyloid, starts its damage long be- fore people have trouble with memory, researchers reported Monday at the Al- zheimer's Association Inter- national Conference. "It's very clear that sleep disruption is an underap- preciated factor," said Dr. Matthew Walker of the Uni- versity of California, Berke- ley, who presented data linking amyloid levels with people's sleep and memory performance. "It's a new player on the scene that in- creases risk of Alzheimer's disease." Sleep problems are treat- able — and a key next ques- tion is whether improving sleep can make a differ- ence in protecting seniors' brains. "Sleep is a modifiable fac- tor. It's a new treatment tar- get," Walker said. Enough sleep is impor- tant for good health gener- ally — seven to eight hours a night are recommended for adults. When it comes to the brain, scientists have long known that people who don't get enough have trou- ble learning and focusing. And anyone who's cared for someone with demen- tia knows the nightly wan- dering and other sleep dis- turbances that patients of- ten suffer, long thought to be a consequence of the dy- ing brain cells. The new research sug- gests that sleep problems actually interact with some of the disease processes in- volved in Alzheimer's, and that those toxic proteins in turn affect the deep sleep that's so important for memory formation. "It may be a vicious cy- cle," said Dr. Miroslaw Mackiewicz of the National Institute on Aging, who wasn't part of the new work. Walker's team gave PET scans to 26 cognitively healthy volunteers in their 70s to measure build-up of that gunky amyloid. They were given words to mem- orize, and their brain waves were measured as they slept overnight. The more amyloid peo- ple harbored in a partic- ular brain region, the less deep sleep they got — and the more they forgot over- night, Walker said. Their memories weren't trans- ferred properly from the brain's short-term mem- ory bank into longer-term storage. HEALTH Studies: Better sleep may be important for Alzheimer's risk At least a dozen adults have had remissions for a median of 10 years after stopping HIV medicines, but the new French case is said to be the first long-lasting one that started in childhood. Water Truck Service from Walberg, Inc. We'll deliver water to your tank, water your roads for dust control, or water your plants. We're here for all of your Water Truck needs. Open Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Call us today @ (530) 824-0773 or (530) 567-6246 Topsoil from Red Truck Rock Yard LLC !!! • Standard Blends • Premium Blends • Special Blends • Also Available: Mushroom Compost Mulch • Worm Castings Open Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. 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