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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Glyphosate ("Roundup") Spraying Resumes in Colombia |
Current rating: 0 |
by Associated Press; posted by Sehvilla
Email: biotech1901 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!)
Address: Urbana |
06 Aug 2001
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The aerial spraying of glyphosate herbicide to kill coca plants has resumed in Colombia despite farmers who say that their fields and rivers are being carelessly doused. |
Monsanto Company, the US biotech giant, uses "helping the
third world" imagery to sell biotech to first-world consumers. At the same time, Monsanto is profiting from this spraying campaign that Colombians are decrying!
Monsanto's actions demonstrate that it still considers profit more important than the environment or human rights.
I forwarded this story from Yahoo! News. An in-depth story about the spraying in Colombia is avaliable at http://www.purefood.org/monsanto/toxicdrift.cfm .
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Colombian Judge Allows Drug Spraying
By JUAN PABLO TORO, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A Colombian judge ruled Monday that the U.S.-backed fumigation of drug crops could resume in Indian lands in the Amazon. Eleven days before he had ordered it suspended.
Judge Gilberto Reyes had ordered a temporary suspension of the aerial fumigations on July 27 after the Organization of Indian Peoples of the Colombian Amazon alleged the herbicide glyphosate was causing health problems and environmental damage.
Reyes said he ordered the suspension to give the Indian group time to back up its claims with evidence. The group did not provide evidence and Reyes revoked the suspension order, said the judge's assistant, Jaime Ardila.
Jorge Rojas, of Paz Colombia, a group of Colombian non-governmental organizations, said the decision would be appealed.
U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson indicated Monday that drug-crop eradication was key to continued U.S. support for Colombia's anti-drug efforts.
``I am very scared that if the fumigation in Colombia doesn't continue, we won't give the level of assistance that Colombia needs,'' she told journalists.
The aerial fumigation is a major component of President Andres Pastrana's Plan Colombia, which Washington is supporting with $1.3 million in aid. The effort is aimed at reducing crops that produce cocaine and heroin and denying income to leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries who earn a fortune by ``taxing'' the drug crops.
Gen. Gustavo Socha, chief of the Colombian anti-narcotic police, said Monday's ruling affirmed the government's claim that the fumigation flights are not harmful.
``They don't cause any harm to the health of people or the environment,'' Socha said. U.S. officials say the herbicide, manufactured by the U.S. company Monsanto and sold as common weedkiller under the name ``Roundup,'' is safe.
Opponents say it is causes skin, respiratory and intestinal illnesses and harms Colombia's diverse ecosystems.
Since the U.S.-funded fumigation began under Plan Colombia in December, 123,500 acres of coca have been sprayed. The goal for the end of 2001 is 197,600 acres. |
