COURT HALTS DRUG CROP SPRAYING

A Colombian Court Has Ordered The Suspension Of The US-Backed Aerial Drug
Eradication Programme.

The administrative tribunal of Cundinamarca ruled that spraying of coca
crops must be stopped until a study is conducted to determine the effects
of the chemicals on the environment and public health.

The programme is the backbone of the anti-drug war in Colombia, and the
hardline government of President Alvaro Uribe had vowed to spray more drug
crops than ever over the course of this year.

It remains to be seen whether the Colombian Government and the United
States will obey the court's ruling. But it could signal a severe blow to
the war on drugs.

Agent Orange's Cousin

The chemical cocktail glyphosate sprayed from planes on coca crops, the raw
material for cocaine, has been dogged with controversy.

It is a cousin of the defoliant Agent Orange used by the US in Vietnam.

It has become the cornerstone of the US-Colombian fight against drug
cultivation that produces more than 600 tons of cocaine every year - most
of which washes up on American shores.

Peasant farmers have long complained that the chemicals kill all crops and
ruin their livelihoods, leaving many no option except to join the warring
factions or cut down more virgin Amazonian forest to sow more drugs.

But President Uribe had said it was essential to undermine the finances of
the warring factions that between them earn up to $1bn every year from the
drugs trade.