SPRAYING POISONS IN COLOMBIA IS A SICKENING POLICY

Re: Colombian spraying plan may be rethought, official says, Aug. 17, and
Spraying in Colombia: Is it safe? Aug. 20.

Thank you for your continued coverage of how our government is funding the
chemical poisoning of Colombia. I am sickened by the policy and most
especially by the comments of the assistant secretary of state, Rand Beers.

He is quoted as saying that he and his family would be willing to stand in
an open field under a spray plane to demonstrate that the mass deployment
of Roundup chemical weed killer is "not harmful to humans."

This is utter nonsense. Anyone with gardening knowledge is aware that
Roundup does not produce damage through skin contact, but it clearly
destroys any and all vegetation that it contacts. In addition, as noted in
your news report, the various surfactants added to the military's spray
increase the chance for this deadly chemical to harm humans. Beers would
provide us with a more dramatic demonstration were he to show us his family
eating vegetable products that had been doused with Roundup.

My husband is a gardener. If he applies Roundup with a tank sprayer and
directs it to specific plants and grasses, he is deemed to be using it in a
legal and safe manner. However, were he to get into a helicopter and dump
it in gallon quantities over Pinellas County, he would be rightfully
arrested and criminally charged with endangering every resident in the county.

Our federal government defends this policy by stating its intention is to
fight the production of dangerous drugs. It is reasonable to say that a
number of other countries have legitimate complaints about the U.S.
production and distribution of tobacco, but I doubt we would tolerate them
invading U.S. airspace to drop Roundup on the tobacco fields of Kentucky
and the Carolinas.

This policy is clearly a gravy train for our military forces, which lack a
defined "enemy" from which to defend our citizenry. Regardless of how many
hectares of Colombia we destroy and no matter how many citizens of Colombia
we kill through guns and poisons, not a single cocaine addict in the United
States will be any closer to true recovery.

Doreen Cohen
Clearwater