Colombia will tackle cocaine with a cancer-causing chemical. Only problem is, it won't work
A new decree, urged on by Trump, means aerial fumigation of coca using glyphosate will likely resume in Colombia after a five-year hiatus
Vice (US)
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The Colombian government has published a proposed law that will allow it to resume a controversial program of aerial fumigation of coca crops using glyphosate, a weed-killer thought to cause cancer in people exposed to it regularly and in high doses. The plans are in the final stage of their passage to law, and spraying is expected to begin “in the second half of this year,” said Ricardo Vargas, an expert in crop fumigation and coca at National University of Colombia. Communities have not had the help they needed to move away from the coca trade and now will take the brunt of the new spraying program. “Many social leaders, some of whom have been for promoting the substitution of coca, have been threatened or killed.”
