Manual coca spraying will kill people: former top Colombia narcotics adviser

[Judi Lynn]

Manual coca spraying will kill people: former top Colombia narcotics adviser

written by Stephen Gill May 4, 2016

Colombia’s decision to return to spraying illicit crops with an allegedly cancerous chemical will kill people, according to a former top counter-narcotics official.

The country’s defense minister announced last month that the government would return to using the “probably carcinogenic” chemical glysophate to eradicate coca, the plant used to make cocaine.

But according to Daniel Rico, the Defense Ministry’s former adviser, “the land eradication with glyphosate will kill more people.”

“Ground spraying means putting a spraycan with 30 kilos of glyphosate on a person’s back, who distributes the liquid on the ground… To use the chemical creates a health risk.”

Daniel Rico, former Defense Ministry

President Juan Manuel Santos banned the use of the chemical substance last year following a World Health Organization warning that it is potentially a carcinogen.

Aerial spraying by crop dusters had been criticized for years and likened to the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam after numerous complaints that the Monsanto-produced chemical was randomly killing crops and affecting farmers’ health.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/manual-spraying-coca-will-kill-people-former-counter-narcotics-official/

[msongs]

1. legalize cocaine now. cut out the gangsters, spend some of that $ on prevention/rehab nt