[Tprisf] Cocaine-eating butterflies proposed to replace herbicides in Colombia

[Mwema Felix]

*Title:* Cocaine-eating butterflies proposed to replace herbicides in
Colombia
*Date:* 13. May. 2015
*Source:* *Global News.*
*http://globalnews.ca/news/1993681/cocaine-eating-butterflies-proposed-to-replace-pesticides-in-colombia/
<http://globalnews.ca/news/1993681/cocaine-eating-butterflies-proposed-to-replace-pesticides-in-colombia/>*

Alberto Gomez, President of the Quindio Botanical Garden, has proposed the
use of a specific butterfly to destroy cocaine crops in Colombia. As it
happens, the only two types of the 157 varieties of coca leaf that are used
to produce cocaine are also the favourite food of this butterfly.

BOGOTA – Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced Saturday he is
halting use of a herbicide that has been a key part of U.S.-financed
efforts to wipe out cocaine crops, saying the country will seek other ways
to destroy coca plants.

Santos said he was taking the move following a Health Ministry
recommendation based on a World Health Organization decision to classify
glyphosate as a carcinogen.

Speaking at an event in the capital, Bogota, Santos said that defence and
health officials should agree on a transition period, during which
“spraying of glyphosate has to be replaced with other mechanisms, for
example, intensifying manual eradication” of coca plants.

The U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Kevin Whitaker, said a decision on whether
to use the chemical is a decision for Colombia and the U.S. government
respects it.

More than 4 million acres of land in Colombia have been sprayed with the
popular weed killer over the past two decades to kill the plants whose
leaves produce cocaine. The spraying program is partly carried out by U.S.
contractors.

The decision to end fumigation program could have a side effect of somewhat
easing ongoing peace talks with the country’s main rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has demanded an end to the
spraying as part of any deal.

The two sides already had agreed that aerial eradication would be used only
as a last resort.

The presence of the rebels was a principal reason for introducing airborne
coca fumigation in Colombia because guerrilla fighters long protected coca
crops, making manual eradication dangerous.

The other two main cocaine-producing countries, Peru and Bolivia, have
avoided use of chemical herbicides, using manual eradication instead.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a French-based research
arm of the World Health Organization in March reclassified the herbicide as
a carcinogen. It cited evidence that the herbicide produces cancer in lab
animals and more limited findings that it causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in
humans.

Daniel Mejia, a Bogota-based economist who is chairman of an expert panel
advising the Colombian government on its drug strategy, published research
last year that found higher rates of skin problems and miscarriages in
districts targeted by herbicides. It was based on a study of medical
records from 2003 to 2007.

Monsanto and other manufacturers of glyphosate-based products strongly
rejected the WHO ruling. They cited a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency that the herbicide was safe.

U.S. and Colombian government officials have argued that cocaine does more
health damage than aerial spraying.

Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon recently expressed concern about calls
for a ban on spraying. “Common sense should prevail,” he said. “What cannot
happen is that in the absence of a more detailed analysis, we lose tools
that one way or another frankly contribute to reducing drug trafficking.”

Colombia already has scaled back use of aerial herbicides in favour of more
labour-intensive manual eradication efforts, partly in response to
criticism by farmers.

Colombian officials say aerial spraying last year covered 55,000 hectares
(136,000 acres), down from a 2006 peak of 172,000 hectares (425,000 acres).

The government also has tried to improve safety standards by avoiding
herbicide flights during strong winds, and installing GPS devices on
fumigation aircraft that keep records of their movements to help determine
the validity of farmers’ compensation claims.

In 2013, Colombia agreed to pay Ecuador $15 million to settle a lawsuit
over economic and human damage linked to spraying along their common border.
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