Defying Washington, Colombia bans glyphosate use for coca fumigation
Colombia’s Congress on Thursday outlawed the use of glyphosate, a controversial pesticide used to eradicate coca, the plant used to make cocaine.
Colombia’s Congress on Thursday outlawed the use of glyphosate, a controversial pesticide used to eradicate coca, the plant used to make cocaine.
Colombia will begin testing new herbicides’ effectiveness in destroying coca plants next week after glyphosate, the original chemical used in coca fumigation, was discovered to be likely carcinogenic and was…
Colombia is set to end the use of aerial fumigation of coca after President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday called on the National Drug Council to ban spraying the chemical that is alleged to cause cancer.
Colombia’s justice minister called on the United Nations to debate radical changes in global drug policies, including the decriminalization of drug use and softer punishment for minor drug trafficking offenses.
Colombia’s Prosecutor General has joined a growing number of top officials who believe fumigating illicit crop fields with glyphosate should be suspended immediately because of potential health risks.
After two years of unchanging levels of coca production in Colombia, 2014 saw an increase in coca cultivation of approximately 20%, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
President Juan Manuel Santos is set to suspend glyphosate use in aerial spraying of coca plants after a WHO study indicated it is likely carcinogenic, the country’s opposition party said.
Colombia’s Health minister, Alejandro Gaviria, has asked for the banning of aerial fumigation after the World Health Organization (WHO) classified glyphosate, the chemical used, as likely carcinogenic.
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…