Pubdate: Tue, 24 Mar 2015
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Joshua Goodman, Associated Press

HERBICIDE REKINDLES DEBATE ON DRUG WAR

U.S. Program Funds Spray in Colombia Called a Carcinogen

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - The new labeling of the world's most-popular 
weed killer as a likely cause of cancer is raising more questions for 
an aerial spraying program in Colombia that is the cornerstone of the 
U.S.backed war on drugs.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a French-based 
research arm of the World Health Organization, has reclassified the 
herbicide glyphosate as a result of what it said is convincing 
evidence the chemical produces cancer in lab animals and more limited 
findings it causes nonHodgkin lymphoma in humans.

The ruling last week is likely to send shock waves around the globe, 
where the glyphosate-containing herbicide Roundup is a mainstay of 
industrial agriculture.

In Colombia, there is an added political dimension stemming from the 
debate that has raged over a program that has sprayed more than 4 
million acres of land in the past two decades to kill coca plants, 
whose leaves are used to produce cocaine.

The fumigation program, which is financed by the U.S. and partly 
carried out by American contractors, has long been an irritant to 
Colombia's left, which likens it to the U.S. military's use of the 
Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War.

Ending Colombia's spraying program has also been a demand of leftist 
rebels negotiating with the government on an accord to end the 
country's half-century armed conflict.

Daniel Mejia, a Bogota-based economist who is chairman of a panel 
advising the Colombian government on its drug strategy, said the new 
report is by far the most authoritative and could end up burying the 
fumigation program.

"Nobody can accuse the WHO of being ideologically biased," Mejia 
said, noting that questions already had been raised about the 
effectiveness of the spraying strategy and its potential health risks.

A paper he published last year, based on a study of medical records 
between 2003 and 2007, found a higher incidence of skin problems and 
miscarriages in districts targeted by aerial spraying.

But Mejia cautioned that while he favors ending aerial spraying, 
there hasn't been a consensus for that move on the advisory panel he leads.

Mejia's concerns were echoed by Colombia's ombudsman office, which 
said it would request the suspension of the spraying program if the 
WHO results are convincing.

The U.S. government, which has seen American pilots shot down on the 
drug flights, says damage to the environment and health risks from 
production of cocaine far outweigh the adverse effects of aerial 
eradication. It's a position Colombia shares.

"Without a doubt this reopens the debate on fumigation and causes us 
to worry," Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said told The Associated 
Press on Saturday. "But these are interests here that transcend" science.

Monsanto and other manufacturers of glyphosate-containing products 
rejected the WHO ruling, pointing to a U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency ruling from 2012 determining the herbicide is safe.

Colombia has already been scaling back fumigation in favor of manual 
eradication efforts amid mounting criticism spraying generates 
ill-will among farmers that the state is trying to protect from armed groups.

But in 2013, Colombia agreed to pay Ecuador $15 million to settle a 
lawsuit over economic and human damage tied to spraying along the 
countries' border.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom