Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2001 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Doreen Cohen SPRAYING POISONS IN COLOMBIA IS A SICKENING POLICY Re: Colombian spraying plan may be rethought, official says, Aug. 17, and Spraying in Colombia: Is it safe? Aug. 20. Thank you for your continued coverage of how our government is funding the chemical poisoning of Colombia. I am sickened by the policy and most especially by the comments of the assistant secretary of state, Rand Beers. He is quoted as saying that he and his family would be willing to stand in an open field under a spray plane to demonstrate that the mass deployment of Roundup chemical weed killer is "not harmful to humans." This is utter nonsense. Anyone with gardening knowledge is aware that Roundup does not produce damage through skin contact, but it clearly destroys any and all vegetation that it contacts. In addition, as noted in your news report, the various surfactants added to the military's spray increase the chance for this deadly chemical to harm humans. Beers would provide us with a more dramatic demonstration were he to show us his family eating vegetable products that had been doused with Roundup. My husband is a gardener. If he applies Roundup with a tank sprayer and directs it to specific plants and grasses, he is deemed to be using it in a legal and safe manner. However, were he to get into a helicopter and dump it in gallon quantities over Pinellas County, he would be rightfully arrested and criminally charged with endangering every resident in the county. Our federal government defends this policy by stating its intention is to fight the production of dangerous drugs. It is reasonable to say that a number of other countries have legitimate complaints about the U.S. production and distribution of tobacco, but I doubt we would tolerate them invading U.S. airspace to drop Roundup on the tobacco fields of Kentucky and the Carolinas. This policy is clearly a gravy train for our military forces, which lack a defined "enemy" from which to defend our citizenry. Regardless of how many hectares of Colombia we destroy and no matter how many citizens of Colombia we kill through guns and poisons, not a single cocaine addict in the United States will be any closer to true recovery. Doreen Cohen Clearwater - --- MAP posted-by: Beth