Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 Source: Inter Press Service (Wire) Copyright: 2001 IPS-Inter Press Service Author: Yadira Ferrer OFFICIALS DIVIDED ON DRUG CROP SPRAYING BOGOTA -- Environmental authorities in Colombia have accused the military of spraying glyphosate herbicide on drug crops without conducting adequate assessments of the harm it causes to human health and the environment, and of failing to mitigate such impacts. In the department of Putumayo alone, where 60 percent of Colombia's coca plantations are found, some 30,000 hectares of the crop were destroyed from January to March of this year. That total was the goal set to be achieved within two years, according to the commander of the anti-narcotics police, Mario Montoya. But this efficiency of the police force contrasts with the stance of the Environment Ministry on the matter. Environment officials consider the Environmental Management Plan of the National Narcotics Directorate to be "inconsistent and ambiguous.' The ministry stated in May that the plan "does not precisely determine which strategic ecosystems are exposed to fumigation, nor the regions that, because of their high biological diversity, must be excluded" from the operations. The government agency also pointed out that there are no existing plans for technical and scientific support to evaluate the impact of glyphosate on natural resources, and that the risk assessment does not outline actions for mitigating or counteracting harmful effects. The Environment Ministry gave the National Narcotics Directorate -- entrusted with executing the illicit crop eradication program -- six months to draft a plan of concrete and systematic measures to reduce the consequences of the herbicide sprayed over plantations of coca, the basic ingredient of cocaine, of marijuana, and of poppies, used to make heroin. In addition, the policing body should verify the environmental impacts of the aerial spraying so far this year in Putumayo, launch a recovery program for the area and hire an independent auditor to evaluate the results of the new measures, says the ministry. For now, the government has ordered a halt to the fumigations in Putumayo as officials await the outcome of agreements recently signed with the local peasant communities for the voluntary eradication of illicit crops by hand. But a large component of Plan Colombia, the initiative promoted by President Andrs Pastrana with financial assistance from other countries, is the eradication of coca plantations considered "industrial-size" -- that is, more than three hectares. The spraying of glyphosate over illegal crops, a practice dating back to the late 1970s, is sharply criticised by environmentalists and by human rights organizations because of its negative effects on human health and on the subsistence crops of peasant farmers. Ricardo Vargas, a researcher at Accin Andina, a non-governmental group that monitors drug trafficking in the region, told IPS that glyphosate has been applied for years in efforts to wipe out drug crops, but he pointed out that the government has not conducted rigorous studies of its effects on human health and the environment. The main objections against glyphosate fumigations are based on the fact that it involves a broad-spectrum toxic agent that is not recommended for aerial applications, one that destroys all crops, contaminates water supplies, and causes skin and respiratory ailments in humans. In addition, the spraying operations conducted during the last two decades in 22 of Colombia's 32 departments forced hundreds of peasant families to abandon their lands. The People's Defender (Ombudsman), a government office, called for a halt to the fumigations in May after receiving 1,117 complaints from small farmers who said the eradication operations -- whether with glyphosate or other chemical products -- had damaged their food crops or caused health problems in their families. The fumigation missions follow the guidelines of the United States anti-drug plan, which focuses on the repression of the cultivation and manufacture of the narcotics in producing countries and "confuses drug trafficking with illicit crops," commented Vargas. The United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) has stated that the drug crop eradication policy has been a failure in Colombia. According to the UNDCP's latest report, despite the fumigation of 60,000 hectares of coca fields in 2000, the total area planted with the crop expanded to 162,000 hectares, an area comparable to the combined total of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia just a few years ago. The eradication of illicit crops is one of the central goals of Plan Colombia, which has $ 1.3 billion in aid from the United States, 80 percent of which is earmarked for military aid. It is this component, say local and international human rights groups, that is causing an escalation of the country's decades-long civil war. The government defines Plan Colombia, with a price tag of $ 7.5 billion, as a strategy for peace and the anti-drug effort. But non-governmental organizations charge that it is intensifying the armed conflict, sinking the population deeper into poverty and devastating the ecosystems of the Colombian Amazon. According to Vargas, Plan Colombia is "clearly the government's commitment to experimenting with biological methods for eradicating illicit crops over the next five years," the period Pastrana set for completing the anti-narcotics fight. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager