Spraying Crops, Eradicating People
"We always used to have a pharmacy in the jungle. But now we can’t find the trees and animals that we need. The animals and fish have disappeared. The birds, too. We have never seen anything like this before. It has to be the result of the spraying. We notice the effects immediately after the area is sprayed. Birds, animals, and fish begin to disappear within a few weeks. The health effects linger for weeks, and even longer."
-Indigenous Shuar leader from Sucumbíos, Ecuador ~snip~
What Are They Spraying?
Paul Wellstone, the late Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota and critic of U.S. military aid to Colombia, doubted the accuracy and safety of the U.S.-sponsored drug-eradication program in Colombia. Wellstone, visiting the Colombia department of Putumayo in December 2000, was assured that the spraying, using satellite images, would target coca fields without harming food crops. However, "on the very first flyover by the crop duster, the U.S. Senator, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Colombian National Police, and other Embassy and congressional staffers were fully doused with the sticky, possibly dangerous Roundup," according to Jim Farrell, Wellstone’s spokesperson, in a statement widely released after the event. The group was standing on a mountainside overlooking a coca field.
This event, in addition to providing effective media coverage against the spraying, called into question a number of concerns about aerial eradication campaigns. Wellstone found that despite satellite imaging, the spraying was imprecise--mostly due to "drift." Because the small fixed-wing crop duster airplanes that spray the herbicides often fly too high to accurately target the coca crops, crosswinds can blow the herbicide hundreds of feet to non-target areas, causing the destruction of other crops or rainforest, or the contamination of bodies of water. Wellstone knew the spraying was going to occur and had access to medical care after his glyphosate bath, but the communities being sprayed have neither luxury and are unable to find information about the ingredients, concentrations, or intended form of application of the herbicides. Although the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá warns local citizens in areas that will be sprayed and informs them of precautions to take in case of contact with the spray, the information comes too late, or not at all, for many.
~snip~
Roundup and Roundup SL are composed mainly of the chemical glyphosate. According to former U.S. ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette, glyphosate use has been associated with problems since the mid-1990s. Sprayed as a mist, it was ineffective in windy and rainy weather, and often did not penetrate the coca leaf. Even for the less-toxic Roundup, a broad-spectrum herbicide which kills a wide range of plants, Monsanto’s own warnings highlight danger to environmental and human health:
Roundup will kill almost any green plant that is actively growing . . . Take care to spray Roundup only on the weeds you want to kill--don’t allow the spray to contact plants you like or they may die too . . . Roundup should not be applied to bodies of water such as ponds, lakes or streams as Roundup can be harmful to certain aquatic organisms . . . After an area has been sprayed with Roundup, people and pets (such as cats and dogs) should stay out of the area until it is thoroughly dry . . . We recommend that grazing animals such as horses, cattle, sheep, goats, rabbits, tortoises and fowl remain out of the treated area for two weeks . . . If Roundup is used to control undesirable plants around fruit or nut trees, or grapevines, allow twenty-one days before eating the fruits or nuts.<2> ,p> Although the U.S. and Colombia governments have maintained that glyphosate is less toxic than table salt or aspirin, the particular formula used in Colombia has not been approved for use in the United States, and has also been combined with surfactants, or soapy additives, in order to increase its toxicity. The surfactants include Cosmo-Flux 411F, which weighs down the glyphosate to prevent wind drift over non-targeted areas, while at the same time allowing for better penetration into the leaves of the coca and poppy plants. The U.S. government reports that the mixture contains 55 percent water, 44 percent glyphosate herbicide product, and one percent surfactant (Cosmo-Flux 411F). But the composition of Cosmo-Flux 411F, a product registered and produced in Colombia, could not be reported by the State Department for reasons of confidentiality.<3>
More:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/ecuador/spraying-crops-eradicating-people
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
