COLOMBIAN DRUG SPRAYING FLIGHTS SUSPENDED

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A Colombian court ordered the government
Thursday to suspend its U.S.-backed drug crop eradication program
until more is known about the effects the sprayed herbicide on human
health and the environment.

Government officials said they would appeal the ruling, and press on
with spraying in the meantime.

The ruling was announced Thursday in a lawsuit filed by lawyer Claudia
Sampedro, who said she was pleased the tribunal recognized Colombians'
right to a "clean environment."

"These policies were drawn up without first studying effects on
health and the environment," said Sampedro, chosen to represent
environmentalists, human rights activists and small farmers opposed to
the spraying program.

Colombian and U.S. officials have given repeated assurances that the
chemical used, a variant of the popular backyard fertilizer Roundup,
is ecologically harmless and safe to humans. They say the eradication
push only targets large-scale coca and opium plantations operated by
drug traffickers.

On Thursday, Agricultural Minister Carlos Gustavo Cano said that the
spraying of illicit drug crops is an essential tool in the
government's fight against rampant drug trafficking helping to fuel
Colombia's 39-year civil war.

"We respect (the ruling) but we don't agree with it," Cano told
reporters. "So the government will take the necessary actions to
appeal it."

The ruling comes six weeks after the nation's Constitutional Court
ordered the government to consult Indian communities about spraying
drug crops on their reservations, which make up 28 percent of the
nation's territory.

The government was told to hold meetings with Indian communities for
three months, but can continue spraying during that period.

Officials say the spraying flights have led to a massive drop in coca
cultivation.

According to a survey carried out by the United Nations Drug Control
Program, Colombia had 252,217 acres planted in coca, the base
ingredient for cocaine, last year, down from 357,818 acres in 2001.

The White House Drug Policy Office said Colombia had 12,103 acres of
opium poppy planted last year, compared with 15,932 acres in 2001.

Despite the declines in drug crop acreage, Colombia continues to
produce most of the world's cocaine and the majority of heroin
consumed in the United States.