Court Stays Glyphosate Spraying
in Columbia
On June 25, the Superior Administrative Court of Cundinamarca ruled that the Columbian Government should suspend aerial herbicide applications to illicit drug crops until their human health and environmental impacts are studied. Specifically, the program should be halted until the government complies with an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) already developed. The Columbian government has told media outlets it will appeal the ruling and plans to continue with the program in the meantime.
The spraying, funded by the U.S., has treated about 123,000 hectares of coca and 3,400 hectares of opium poppy in 2002. These were 45 percent and 67 percent increases over the 2001 figures, respectively. The EMP, which was developed some time ago but never implemented, requires that buffer zones be constructed and environmental and epidemiological monitoring be conducted. An independent third party is supposed to verify the EMP. Both Columbia and the U.S. are responsible for implementing the EMP, and the U.S. Department of State must certify that the EMP is being followed in order to receive further funding from Congress.
This ruling supplements earlier decisions by other Colombian courts on the program. In one, released six weeks previously, Columbia’s Constitutional Court ordered the government to consult with Indian communities when spraying is conducted on their reservations. (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 6/30/03).
