Article: U.S. Official Defends Aerial Drug Eradication Spraying in Colombia

16 August 2001

Article: U.S. Official Defends Aerial Drug Eradication Spraying in Colombia

Rand Beers says no evidence links spraying with harm to humans

by Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States is not able to find any credible scientific evidence that the aerial drug-eradication spraying program in Colombia represents a health hazard to humans, says Rand Beers, assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Briefing reporters August 16 on the Colombian government's spraying program, which receives financial support from the United States, Beers refuted newspaper reports that said an "epidemic" was occurring in southern Colombia from the aerial spraying campaign to stop illicit coca production. Beers said the U.S. government is "looking for credible information that can be related directly to the spraying." If damaging information is found, Beers said, the Bush Administration will re-examine the program and determine whether changes are in order.

Beers said the government is reviewing reports that the spraying has killed animals in the region and is damaging human health. But as to why these reports keep surfacing, Beers said: "I can't answer that question. I don't know. We are trying to find out the answer." The assistant secretary said that glyphosate, the herbicide used in the spraying program, kills coca and does not affect humans. He added, however, that tremendous over-exposure to that chemical would naturally cause health problems, as would excess exposure to most things, including common table salt or aspirin.

As to the motivation of farmers in Colombia who complain that the spraying is damaging their health, Beers suggested that they might be objecting because the program is hurting them economically. He also said that many of the coca farmers are already living in "unsanitary conditions" from their exposure to a precurser chemical used in turning coca leaf into coca paste. This means, Beers suggested, that these farmers might already have had pre-existing health problems even before the first aerial eradication flights took place.

Beers testified to the safety of the spraying program, saying that he had himself stood in a field that was sprayed in Colombia and did not suffer any damaging health effects. For the benefit of any doubters, he said he would be willing to put himself through that test again.

Those who object to the spraying contend it causes vomiting in children, as well as damage to corn and other crops. Environmental problems arise, critics say, depending on the dosage of glyphosate used, and whether nor not the herbicide drifts during spraying onto neighboring lands.

However, Beers said, reports that have been compiled by the Colombian national health service show little difference between fields that have been sprayed and those that have not, in terms of affecting the health of humans. That report, and others that are being conducted, Beers said, suggest that people who participate in the cultivation of coca could be having health problems whether nor not they were within the zone of the spraying program.

"In that context," Beers said, "it becomes difficult to attribute the health problems to the spraying."

An April study conducted for the U.S. government also said concerns about the effects of glyphosate on Colombia's environment are "exaggerated," adding it presents no human health risk in the amounts being used in the aerial eradication program. The study, prepared by a Virginia-based company called GRS Solutions, said that "attempts to quantify adverse human health risks to the aerial eradication campaign are fraught with emotion but unfounded in science." The study said the "aggregate environmental impact of the spraying is not likely to have any added long-term detrimental effect that will prevent Colombia from achieving long-lasting sustainable development."

Almost the entire world's cocaine supply derives from the Andean region of South America, with 90 percent of total production and distribution originating in Colombia. In 2000, Colombian drug traffickers cultivated an estimated 136,200 hectares of coca and produced 580 metric tons of cocaine.